Water/Wastewater Superintendent Dan Pelletier discusses proposed Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection regulations on nitrogen removal that would cut the town’s timeline to implement water quality improvements in half to meet state goals. WILLIAM F. GALVIN PHOTO

HARWICH – The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection is proposing major changes to septic system regulations to address the impacts of nitrogen discharge on surface water quality. The proposed changes would require accelerated nitrogen discharge reductions in 30 watersheds across the Cape, requiring that they be completed within 20 years, half the time previously stipulated.

The changes to the regulations, known as Title V, seek to address nitrogen contamination in coastal estuaries, long an issue for Cape communities. The agency is proposing to establish new “Nitrogen Sensitive Areas” for any watershed to an embayment or sub-embayment that is subject to nitrogen Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) that were approved pursuant to the federal Clean Water Act 208s Area-Wide Water Quality Management Plan. All Cape communities are subject to the 208 plan.

The TMDL is a federal Environmental Protection Agency-approved calculation of the maximum amount of a pollutant allowed to enter a waterbody so that the waterbody will meet and continue to meet water quality  standards. The proposed regulations call for the establishment of a wastewater management plan for each watershed and the issuance of a standard watershed permit.

The permit would require that 75 percent of the necessary pollutant reduction levels be achieved within 20 years, unless the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) determines an alternative schedule is appropriate based on watershed-specific issues, according to a fact sheet issued by the agency.

“This is a bombshell,” Selectman Larry Ballantine said when Water/Wastewater Superintendent Dan Pelletier and GHD Inc, wastewater consultant Russ Kleekamp informed selectmen of the proposed change in the timeline, which will reduce the time for the town to implement its comprehensive wastewater management plan from 40 to 20 years. 

Ballantine said DEP's proposed change doubles the workload to accomplish the town's goal, which will make it a lot more expensive to accomplish in a 20-year period. The town has a CWMP in place that was approved by MassDEP in 2016. The initial cost estimate to implement the CWMP over a 40-year period was $230 million, but that figure has since grown to $300 million.

Gov. Charlie Baker added $200 million to the state’s supplemental budget to assist Cape towns with funding, Pelletier said. Half of the money will go to the county and the other half to the Cape and Islands Water Protection Fund, he said.

“It’s really a drop in the bucket for what we’re going to be needing,” Pelletier said. The state, he added, is saying there are funding programs available, such as the State Revolving Fund, which includes a principal forgiveness program. Pelletier estimated the town would be receiving $5.5 million from the principal forgiveness fund for the first two phases of sewer work that is nearly completed in East Harwich.

“The thing that gets me is the ability to pay for it. The financial pressure will be enormous on the communities,” Water/Wastewater Commissioner Allin Thompson said of the proposed timeline.

“We have to define a mechanism to pay for it, and minimize that burden as best we can,” Pelletier said.

Five of the 30 watersheds across the Cape that would come under the nitrogen TMDL provisions requiring the establishment of a watershed management plan are in Harwich. The town already has a 20-year watershed management plan in place for Pleasant Bay, developed by the Pleasant Bay Alliance. It was the first approved in the state by DEP four years ago. The plan is what DEP is using as the model under the proposed regulations, Pelletier said. The town would have to develop four additional plans for its other watersheds.

“They are looking to us to have a conversation. They are looking for feedback from us,” Pelletier said of the proposal.

The proposed regulations provide a “do nothing” provision if the community decides not to pursue the watershed management permit which would require that any system serving new construction, or an existing facility, incorporate best available nitrogen reducing technology within five years of the watershed being designated a Nitrogen Sensitive Area. Such alternative systems must be certified by DEP for general use pursuant to Title V, and they must have the lowest effluent total nitrogen performance value.

Pelletier said he does not see the installation of alternative systems as being attainable. It would require that 10,000 septic systems retrofitted, or new systems installed, he said. Former DEP official Brain Dudley, in a presentation to selectmen this past year, downplayed the effectiveness of alternative technology in nitrogen removal, Ballantine noted.

The town is in the process of revisiting its comprehensive management plan with GHD. Pelletier said the Herring River watershed is the big one that will have to be addressed. The town will have to do more sewer installations over the next 20 years to meet the 75 percent reduction goal, he added. A considerable amount of hydrologic and watershed modeling will need to be done to develop management plans for the four watersheds, he said.

“I think we’re all shocked,” Pelletier said. “How are we going to do this? I’m happy to work and develop a solution as best I can.”

It will be a while before the new regulations are promulgated. Kleekamp said DEP officials want to meet with the selectmen in the near future to discuss the proposals. Pelletier added that the state agency is planning a public comment period this fall and new regulations would not be effective until 2023.

Barry Hemeon posing at Wychmere Harbor for Harwich Junior Theater, 1954.  Photo Courtesy Of Lexi Soderberg

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