BOSTON - Fieldwork is beginning this week in the Cape Cod communities of Barnstable, Dennis, Falmouth, Mashpee and Orleans on a plan that may help reduce harmful levels of nitrogen and other nutrients from flowing into Cape Cod waters. Lessons learned from this pilot plan can be applied to other locations throughout the Southeast New England region to determine the most effective means to capture nutrients before they negatively impact bays, ponds, streams or coastal estuaries.
With backing from EPA's Southeast New England Plan for coastal watershed restoration (SNEP), E.P.A. is investigating innovative treatment technologies to help control the discharge of nitrogen from groundwater to Cape Cod waters. One of these innovative technologies is called a "Permeable Reactive Barrier" (PRB), a technology that may be able to intercept and mitigate nitrogen reaching Cape Cod water bodies. E.P.A. chose sites in the 5 Cape communities for preliminary investigation to explore their potential as suitable sites for PRB installations.
"EPA is eager to see if this promising, low-cost technology can be applied more widely on the Cape and elsewhere to help solve the problem of nutrient pollution impacting local waters. We have experience with PRBs to remediate contaminated groundwater plumes, so we are hopeful that this technique can also help diffuse nutrient pollution," said Curt Spalding, regional administrator of EPA's New England office.
"Cape Cod is at the heart of this problem in New England," said Congressman Bill Keating, a longtime champion of SNEP backing in Congress. "I am very proud to join the E.P.A. in announcing the release of backing from SNEP for these deserving plans on the Cape, which seek to combat contamination and purify our water bodies. These 5 plans are the realization of the SNEP's goals - utilizing innovative technologies to mitigate and reduce nitrogen levels in our region's groundwater."
A Permeable Reactive Barrier is located below the ground surface in order to intercept groundwater plumes and use a variety of substrates, such as vegetable oil or wood chips, to intercept nitrogen as it flows towards surface water. PRBs are usually sited perpendicular to the direction that groundwater is flowing towards the water body, and can be built as a trench-like design or through a series of injection points. Each location has specific factors that will help E.P.A. and its partners best determine the type of PRB technology to propose.
The sites undergoing preliminary characterization include: Prince Cove Marina, Barnstable; Vinland Road, Kelley's Bay, Dennis; Mashpee River Road, Mashpee; Sailfish Drive, Bourne's Pond, Falmouth; Shorewood Drive, Great Pond, Falmouth; and Lonnie's Pond, Orleans. The location characterization work now beginning should be completed during the spring of 2016.
Following the initial location investigation, E.P.A. will choose one or more of the most promising sites for more detailed characterization to determine if it can fully support a PRB design. This full location characterization will yield additional data needed to determine the size, depth, type, and placement of a potential PRB. While a PRB will not be installed through this project, a full design will be made accessible to the towns. The process will help Cape Cod communities decide if a PRB is a suitable solution for future sites and how to design it effectively.
For this project, E.P.A. is collaborating with US Geologic Survey, the Cape Cod Commission (CCC) and each municipality. This collaboration also aligns with and is in support of the objectives of Massachusetts Dept. of Environmental Protection's Total Maximum Daily Load for Cape Cod and the CCC's Clean Water Act Section 208 Project Update. Both of these documents were developed to help address excess nutrient pollution and PRBs are one such method that may be both cost effective and efficient in mitigating the discharge of nitrogen into Cape Cod waters.
More information:
- For plan status updates and to learn more about SNEP: www.epa.gov/snecwrp
- Cape Cod 208 plan: http://www.capecodcommission.org/208
- Permeable Reactive Barriers: https://clu-in.org/download/Citizens/a_citizens_guide_to_permeable_reactive_barriers.pdf
