Eastham WRAB-WWMPC
Minutes Meeting of 12/18/07
Town Hall, 2 p.m.
Attending were Chair Weiss, Co-Chair Whitmore, members Nugent, Olthof, Sullivan, Boelitz (later) and Bayne, new wastewater committee members Stephen Wasby and Daniel Schwebach, Health Agent Crowley, Selectman McDonald, and citizens Tom and Lois Johnson, Larry Casson and Judy Williams.
Newly appointed members Wasby and Schwebach were introduced to all. Schwebach is a wastewater system installer and a certified wastewater plant technician; Wasby is a professor of political science whose interest in how communities work can be helpful to the water/wastewater education process.
Minutes of 10/9/07 and 11/13/07 were unanimously accepted as amended.
The 2008 meeting schedule was discussed. Agreed on were the following changes:
2/12 meeting was moved from 2 p.m. to noon.
November meeting was moved from 11/11 (Veteran’s Day) to 11/18.
Reorganization of officers, as the Town Charter suggests be done annually, was discussed. Olthof suggested that since the group has two subsections, water (board) and wastewater (committee), meetings be divided into two sections, with the chair of each running the appropriate portion. He suggested this arrangement because he felt wastewater issues have been shunted aside for a couple of years because of the groups’ dominant focus on municipal water. Although he recognized the wastewater consultant’s work depends somewhat on the results of the Massachusetts Estuary Project (MEP) reports on Nauset Marsh and Rock Harbor, he pointed out that overall wastewater planning for the town and planning for pond water quality protection can move forward without the completion of the MEP reports. Whitmore commented that
sometimes the decisions about emphasis get made for us, as happened when the wastewater contract was awarded based on a reduced scope of work because an inadequate amount of money was available. Schwebach advised that his expertise is in the area of wastewater, and he had been appointed to the wastewater committee only. Wasby felt it is essential that the group be able to discuss the relationship of the two components of clean water planning. Crowley suggested that subcommittees might be utilized more heavily than has happened before. The group concluded that each meeting should include sections on wastewater and water, the amount of time devoted to each varying with the need, but that division of the leadership of the two areas is unnecessary and possibly counterproductive to the integration of the two subjects.
Weiss, after many years as chair, volunteered to step down, but will continue as no one else felt able to take on the chairmanship. Whitmore will continue as co-chair. Bayne, having taken minutes and posted meetings for 3 years, asked to be replaced. Since no one volunteered to take on the role on a regular basis, the group will rotate the task of taking minutes. Crowley volunteered to post meetings with the town clerk.
Whitmore and Crowley reported on an informational meeting they’d had with Bob Duncanson, head of Chatham’s wastewater department, at which he laid out the road to wastewater treatment as Chatham experienced it. He was involved in the initial stage of the MEP studies when the Mass. Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), looking for a way to take action under the Clean Water Act, sought a reliable water quality analysis model to use, and settled on the one offered by Brian Howes of UMass Dartmouth’s School of Marine Applied Science and Technology (SMAST).
Regarding Eastham’s involvement in the MEP process, Crowley commented that it is essential for Eastham to respond to the technical report for Rock Harbor, which is available at her office for anyone to review. After that process is completed, there will be a public hearing on the report, and finally, when the public comment period is complete, DEP will issue the total maximum daily load of nitrogen allowed (TMDL’s) for Rock Harbor. She also distributed copies of the power point report on the concepts of wastewater planning and the MEP process which the town’s wastewater consultant, Nate Weeks of Stearns and Wheler, made recently to the BoS. (in file.)
The results of the 2007 well testing program, which focused on central Eastham, will be discussed at the next meeting.
Tom Johnson, an interested citizen and a systems analyst, made a presentation using his evaluation of various Eastham related statistics to argue for mandatory septic system inspection and pumping. He recommended pumping every three years for full time residents and a lesser frequency for part time residents. He attempted to compare the N levels found in the well testing program with the BoH records on septic system failure and repair, and suggested that further analysis of that type might show a negative correlation. (to go in file when received.)
Schwebach explained that no town on the Cape has required pumping for several years because the federal subsidy which helped support that work has dried up. Alternatives to Title 5 systems, the various nitrogen removing systems, only work well where there is a steady contribution to the system, thus making them less useful in towns like Eastham where there are many homes which are used only part time. He felt the most effective solution will be neighborhood systems which treat the combined effluent from homes which have full time residents and homes which have part time residents.
It was suggested that there is no longer sufficient time to create a municipal water article to present to the BoS for inclusion in the spring 2008 warrant. However, the group will discuss a plan for clean water education at the next meeting. This plan will require a small fund for educational mailings and presentation supplies. As the warrant opens on 1/7/08 and closes on 2/8/08, it should be possible to submit this budget for spring town meeting. Bayne distributed copies for review, comment and action at the 1/8/08 meeting.
The meeting adjourned at 4:40.
Submitted by Sandy Bayne, Clerk
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