Eastham Water Resources Advisory Board
Minutes: 8/2/04
Chair Weiss being detained, Vice Chair Boelitz opened the meeting; in attendance were members Nugent, Lightfoot, Whitmore, Holt and Bayne, and Health Agent Crowley.
The minutes of 7/12/04 were approved as amended.
Officers for the August 2004 through July 2005 period were elected: Weiss will remain Chair, Boelitz will remain Vice Chair, and Bayne will remain Clerk.
Crowley circulated draft copies of two grant requests which she will submit to Barnstable County.
One of these will ask the County to use the USGS groundwater flow model to study the environmental and hydrological effects of transferring one mgpd of water from the Orleans’ lens to Eastham’s.
The second will ask that funds be provided to the CCC and the County to study the Health Department practices in three towns (Eastham, Wellfleet, and Truro) re alternative septic systems. The study will apply current practices to a cross section of developed lots and a projection will be made of likely 20 year replacement rate. The goal is to determine if the current choices are the best ones for the good of the individual towns and for the homeowner over the long term.
The WRAB agreed to support the grant applications with letters.
Weiss reported on his arrival that he had discussed the proposed water related meeting with the Selectmen with Sheila Vanderhoef once more; no date has yet been set.
Holt, a Health Board member, commented that as the WRAB and the WWMC are not regulatory boards, the Board of Health has agreed to begin to address the water related issues which are concerning the three boards. He feels it is time for public education re fertilizers, detergents, and other sources of nitrogen and phosphorus, to begin. Bayne will give copies of the Friends of Pleasant Bay and the Long Pond Watershed Association waster protection related brochures to Crowley for the Board.
Holt also stated that he would the next week meet with Lightfoot to begin planning a public education program which all board members could use for presentations to civic groups.
Weiss and Whitmore spoke with Lind (NR) regarding the potential for the DEP to require Eastham to create an estuary protection plan within the next two years; Lind suggested the WRAB invite Howes of SMAST and Dudley of DEP, both of whom are closely involved with the estuary project, to a meeting. The Board agreed to do so.
Weiss and Taylor (of WWMC and Bd. of Health) will meet with Vanderhoef to express their concerns that the two appointed boards were not consulted regarding the specifics for water supply and waste management on the Roach property development proposal.
The board discussed the issue of the need for a limited public water supply in the Moll’s Pond area because of VOC’s found in a few wells. The Board will send a letter to the Selectmen supporting the initiation of the long process involved in public water supply application and approval.
Whitmore will arrange the WRAB participation in Windmill Weekend, Sept.11-12.
Crowley reported that her staff has sent out 800 reminder postcards to homeowners who have not submitted well samples; 400 have been returned. This yields a 64% response for 2003, and a 59% response for 2004. For south Eastham, 2800 sample kits will be mailed this summer on a staggered basis.
Next meeting will be held Sept. 13.
Sandy Bayne
Clerk
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