Discharging wastewater into Cape Cod Canal discussed again in Bourne despite past objections
BUZZARDS BAY – The Buzzards Bay Coalition study into shipping regional treated sewage from an upgraded Wareham plant on the Agawam River to a canal outfall on the Massachusetts Maritime Academy campus is back for more discussion this summer.
The controversial canal discharge proposal is one of four alternative options from Environmental Partners, the town’s wastewater consultant in its alternative analysis report into needed septic changes watershed-by-watershed.
Sewer Commission member Peter Meier told EP representatives Tuesday it is “disingenuous” to include the canal outfall in its Aug. 9 update to the board after Town Meeting voters overwhelmingly rejected waste disposal into the waterway in a non-binding question in 2021. The company has also not discussed the issue with Gray Gables residents, Meier said.
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However, Commissioner Judith Froman said “all options” should be considered in the report regarding regional effluent disposal. This could also include wastewater from the Main Street system which connects with Wareham.
Sewer Commission Chair Mary Jane Mastrangelo took a middle-of-the-road approach. She said the Town Meeting vote of opposition should be included in the EP report prior to the regional disposal alternative being mentioned.
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Septic alternative report discussion Aug. 9
A final EP report into nitrogen-impacted watersheds on both sides of the canal is due in December. More discussion will take place when the analysis of septic alternatives to date is presented to the public Aug. 9 in a meeting at the Bourne Veteran's Memorial Community Center on Main Street.
The so-called Upper Cape Project has not faded in the past year. It could conceivably involve treatment of sewage from South Plymouth, Marion, Wareham, Buzzards Bay village and the Massachusetts Maritime Academy, which already discharges its own effluent into the canal at Taylors Point.
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The town does not necessarily have to buy into the regional proposal for it to proceed.
It is unclear as well how the Board of Selectmen will consider this idea and how a Bourne Comprehensive Wastewater Management Plan, serving as a pipeline of sorts to a new septic future in critical shoreline areas, will ultimately be reviewed by the Mass. Department of Environmental Protection.
Wastewater Advisory Committee Chair Kathy Fox Alfano told sewer commissioners her panel is continually warned away from any discussion about a possible canal outfall “because it’s not part of our mission” into reviewing needed septic changes in Bourne watersheds.
Wastewater board wants to discuss canal discharge
Alfano said she wants the canal issue to be included in the committee’s mission and that the controversial discharge idea, opposed by Taylors Point and Gray Gables property owners, will feature prominently in the Aug. 9 public session.
Mastrangelo said the commission will discuss including canal discharge as part of the Wastewater Advisory Committee’s scope at a future meeting.
Wareham’s $9 million de-nitrification upgrade of its Agawam River plant pivots on an upgraded effluent disposal process in part because the environmentally degraded river can no longer adequately handle discharge impacts.
The Bourne Board of Health said earlier this month that the Phinneys Harbor watershed will be the first area to implement new state Title 5 wastewater requirements, due possibly in January. Mastrangelo says this means 300 Monument Beach septic systems will have to be upgraded; likely to innovative or alternative systems.
This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Canal wastewater discharge plan raised again despite past objections
