Why do we need a Wastewater Management Plan now?

The Town will be asking for Town Meeting's approval on May 6, 2023, to fund the design and engineering of a wastewater treatment facility and collection system. This is a necessary step for us for three reasons:

1. To reduce nitrogen going into our waterbodies in a community-wide, targeted manner;
2. To meet the requirements of a 2014 court settlement to reduce nitrogen flow into our marshes, ponds and Cape Cod Bay; and,
3. To satisfy the prescriptions of Massachusetts Department of Environment proposed regulations to present a wastewater management plan to implemented within 20 years and AVOID state mandates for individual Eastham homeowners to within 5 years septic systems with enhanced Innovated/Alternative (I/A) systems which are expensive to install and maintain.

The plan design and engineering build on and complement all the alternative management programs that the Town has been working on such as the permeable reactive barrier technology, stormwater upgrades, pond remediation and innovative I/A technologies.

History of Wastewater Planning in Eastham

Our first Wastewater Management Planning report was completed by Sterns and Wheeler in March 2009 (14 years ago). This report identified both Public Health and Environmental needs, protecting public drinking water was given the highest priority. In response to protecting drinking water, Town Meeting approved a partial municipal water system in 2014. A year later approving a town-wide municipal water system which is nearing completion.

In the same time period, the Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) sued the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), charging that the EPA has not fulfilled its obligation under the Federal Clean Water Act to adequately regulate the discharge of nitrogen into Cape Cod Water Bodies. On Cape Cod, septic systems are the primary source of nitrogen in coastal waters. “In response to that suit in 2012, The Cape Cod Commission was designated as the agency that would work with the towns to identify each towns responsibility and monitor progress towards nitrogen reduction goals. The suit was settled in 2014, and established an Area-wide (Cape Cod) Water Quality Management Plan under section 208 of the Clean Water Act. This plan is referred to as “the 208 plan” and provided a framework of what the towns would do to move forward with wastewater initiatives focused on resolving nitrogen impacts to our waterbodies. The plan was certified by Governor Baker and accepted by the EPA in 2015. (https://www.capecodcommission.org/our-work/208) The plan is based on all the towns making progress toward the goal of preventing nitrogen from entering fresh or salt water.



Since 2012, Eastham has participated in the 208 process and have concurrently, with public water, been working on strategies for our ponds and estuaries, focusing on Salt Pond , Nauset Marsh, Rock Harbor, and the Wellfleet Harbor watershed(s).

Why Now?



We love our town and its natural beauty. Most of us live here because we enjoy the bay, the ocean, the marshes and ponds. We all know that we have to reverse the trend of having nitrogen from septic systems and other sources run into our waterbodies. The town has been working for years to minimize the need for a formal treatment and collection system, by studying all the other adaptive management options, but after all these years, it is evident that we can’t reach our goal without a plan that includes a small sewer system. It will tie all the other initiatives together, and get us to the goal.

Now is not a great time with inflation and all our other obligations, but the change in regulations, the threat of legal action if we do not make progress, and the availability of certain funds: short-term rental tax, Cape and Islands Water Protection Fund assistance, and the possibility of 0% loans and loan forgiveness from the state, make this the best time. If we wait, we will have to bear the costs without some of these subsidies, and end up paying more. Now is the time to get this done.

Why a Support a Community Approach-Future? 

Proposed DEP Regulations would require the installation of enhanced Innovative/Alternative (I/A) systems at all properties located in a nitrogen sensitive area within 5 years unless a watershed plan is developed. An approved Watershed Management plan for the Town, will relieve individual property owners of the burden of compliance and allow implementation of a comprehensive strategy that will result in improved water quality, and achieve our goal much faster. Developing and supporting a community approach gives us the opportunity to define our own path forward in a phased approach, which can be adjusted to adapt as needed. This approach will allow us to work with neighboring towns on shared watershed efforts, which is necessary to reach our environmental and regulatory goals.

Ongoing Wastewater Initiatives

Our area of focus to improve water quality is Nauset Harbor Estuary. Our highest priority and first phase of effort will focus on Salt Pond sub watershed. The town has been collecting data via regular sampling and testing of 32 sites in Salt Pond, Nauset Marsh and Town Cove since 2001. Nitrogen limits and water quality data are analyzed and limits determined by The Massachusetts Estuaries Project (MEP). Salt Pond is significantly impaired and nitrogen levels have consistently exceeded its limit from 2001 to the present.

Our comprehensive plan includes both development of a traditional wastewater treatment facility and nontraditional approaches to improve water quality in all five watershed areas:



The hybrid approach includes:

1. Core Sewer Area
2. Pilot PRB to be expanded to full scale implementation
3. Stormwater Improvements to prevent run-off into water bodies
4. Evaluation of Innovative Alternative Technologies
5. Fertilizer reduction

More Information

Over the next month, we will be sending more information about the details of the plan the town has chosen, the various elements of the plan, the options we have for funding, and the warrant article that will be voted on at town meeting on May 6 that will begin the process.

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