Recent posts on social media about a proposed wastewater outfall into the canal evoke images of huge volumes of brown sludge pouring into pristine waters. That is unfortunate, because the reality is that the proposed plan would benefit the entire Buzzards Bay watershed while greatly reducing pollution in many of its bays and inlets.
In brief, this proposal would create a regional wastewater district that includes Bourne, Marion, Wareham, Plymouth and the Massachusetts Maritime Academy. It is being driven by the regionâs primary environmental organization, the Buzzards Bay Coalition. This is an unusual combination of players that has attracted support from both state and federal environmental protection agencies.
Jan 7, 2021
Editor’s note: This letter is in response to a Dec. 28 letter from Buzzards Bay Coalition President Mark Rasmussen regarding
claims from the Town of Marion over the projected cost of the lining of one of the lagoons at its wastewater treatment plant. The Buzzards Bay Coalition sued the town in 2018 for an alleged violation of the Massachusetts Clean Water Act, saying that nitrogen was reportedly leaking from the lagoons and into the nearby Aucoot Cove. The town denies this claim. The case was dropped in 2019 after the town entered into an agreement with the Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Environmental Protection to line one of the three lagoons.
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Agilitas Energy, an energy developer with a robust portfolio in northeast US, has acquired an 8.9 MW photovoltaic solar plus energy storage project in the Town of Rochester on 38 acres of land. The project is currently under construction.
Agilitas is working in lockstep with the Town of Rochester, including its Planning Board and the Conservation Committee, to sustainably construct the solar project. The project is targeting commercial operations in the 1Q2022 and will be able to power more than 1800 Massachusetts homes. The energy storage component of the project not only will increase the total power output of the array, but also can provide peak-shaving capabilities to stabilise the grid’s power supply.
Construction of a sewer system to serve the areas of Teaticket and Acapesket is projected for 2026.
âThe town has put up money for design and planning is currently underway, and this is the timetable,â Water Quality Management Committee chairman Eric T. Turkington told the select board on Monday, December 21. âThese two pieces both affect Great Pond, which except for Waquoit Bay, is the water body most in need of nitrogen reduction.â
While sewering will go a long way toward reducing nitrogen in Great Pond, it will not eliminate it.
âI will caution us, because 60 percent of the water that comes into this water body comes from the Coonamessett River system, sewering these two areas will get rid of a lot of the problem. It will not get rid of all of the problem,â Mr. Turkington said. âThere is a lot of water coming in that isnât coming from the neighborhood. It is coming from north of [Route] 28.â
Dec 18, 2020
Participants in a program get out on the bay. Photo courtesy: Onset Bay Center
Onset Bay Center director Katherine Garofoli is hard at work planning for next year’s programs, and she’s asking the public to weigh in on the activities and events they’d most like to see.
The Onset Bay Center, run by the Buzzards Bay Coalition, is housed at the newly renovated Onset Bathhouse, and leads programs on the beach and bay and on Wickets Island.
“We were very happy with how the summer went given the challenges of covid restrictions,” Garofoli said. “We’re really looking to the future and getting excited about the 2021 summer, and anticipating that it s going to be a full program with multiple different types of activities for everybody.”