Edmund Stevens’ letter in the Friday, July 10 Gazette, Great Pond Under Pressure from Pollution, demands a thoughtful response which I’ll try to provide. Yes, the Vineyard’s coastal ponds and estuaries are deteriorating, and they need our help, now. They are suffering, primarily from nitrogen enrichment, and it will be a long, costly and politically-charged and sustained effort to correct the problem. It will take an informed citizenry committed to investing in the restoration and protection of our ponds over many years. The Great Pond Foundation, the Town of Edgartown, the Martha’s Vineyard Shellfish Group, the Martha’s Vineyard Commission and the Massachusetts Estuaries Project, among others, are committed to this effort and are working closely in a concerted effort to better manage the pond and its 4,800-acre watershed, which is so critical to the health of the pond.

The primary source of nitrogen in the pond is effluent from individual septic systems. The Edgartown Wastewater Commission is working hard to get as many subdivisions as possible in the watershed to tie into the wastewater treatment facility. A special town meeting will be held in the fall to decide whether to fund sewering the Island Grove subdivision. The Commission is seeking a U.S. Department of Agriculture 45 per cent grant/55 per cent loan for this project. If voted, the project could result in preventing the nitrogen from up to 149 homes at Island Grove from reaching the pond. Also within the Great Pond watershed, sewering is now in place for serving 119 homes in the Codman’s Spring subdivision and for serving 25 homes in the Hye Road subdivision. Edgartown Meadows has 52 per cent voluntary tie-in to the system. Kittsfield and Road to the Plains subdivisions have been privately funded for sewering. The challenge now is to find incentives to get homeowners to tie in to the sewering provided by the town. Once each of the above projects is complete the town will have satisfied the requirement to provide sewer service to enough properties to lower the nitrogen input to the pond by 30 per cent. Meanwhile, several types of individual homeowner denitrification systems exist and are in use on Island. These can be added to existing Title V-approved septic systems, which in themselves do not remove nitrogen. Breakthrough technology is needed here to perfect a system that is both affordable and highly effective in nitrogen removal. The current technologies provide nitrogen removal in the 40 to 60 per cent range only.

The Edgartown Great Pond Oyster Restoration Project, under the direction of the Martha’s Vineyard Shellfish Group’s Rick Karney, is in its second year. Last year it produced some 3 million oysters, nurtured by the Great Pond Foundation’s three summer interns under the direction of veteran shellfisherman Boo Bassett. Now, they are at it again, coping with low water temperatures and the wettest June on record. A special strain of disease-resistant oyster is being used in hopes of building a sustained population that can resist a pervasive disease affecting oyster populations along the East Coast. An adult oyster can filter a staggering 15 gallons of water per day, removing significant volumes of nitrogen from the Pond. They are our allies in the nitrogen battle.

The Great Pond Foundation, with support from some 50 individuals, has purchased a new specially designed hydraulic dredge which should be arriving from California soon. It will be operated by Steve Ewing, a longtime veteran marine equipment operator and conservationist, and be used primarily for maintaining a channel through the delta on the pond side of the barrier at the cut. Maintaining the channel will assure a better flow of nitrogen-laden water from the pond and a better inflow of salt water, essential for the shellfish population. Ideally, the cut should remain open for a minimum of 12 days to assure a good exchange of water in the system. At present, this would be impossible without dredge assistance.

Permitting application for additional dredging to improve pond circulation is underway as well; this is a lengthy process, involving myriad state, federal and local agencies.

The foundation encourages anyone concerned with the future of the pond to make a donation to the foundation’s dredge fund to help with the operation and maintenance of the dredge. Flushing the pond is not a “giant Band-Aid” as some have suggested. Flushing the pond is a long-used and proven means of managing the pond as a brackish estuary for the production of shellfish. Absent the opening, usually made four times a year, there would be no shellfish, no crabs, and no salt pond, as we know it. Moreover, for the present and immediate future dredging remains the single most effective means of controlling pond nitrogen levels.

In an effort to determine the precise nature and location of the nitrogen plume entering the pond, the foundation, town of Edgartown, the Nature Conservancy, the Mazar family, and MVC have collaborated in the placing of three additional test wells at the head of Mashacket Cove. It is hoped that testing these and other wells in the vicinity will give a clearer picture of the movement and location of the nitrogen in the groundwater and whether it is possible to mine the water and extract the nitrogen before it reaches the pond.

The large filamentous algae proliferating in the pond for the past several years has been the focus of concern and study for the past year. The foundation has contacted the University of Rhode Island and Roger Williams University, and algal experts at both institutions are involved in analyses to determine the species. A graduate student from URI will be coming to the Island in July to see the algae first-hand and take specimens for further study. Tentative confirmation of earlier identification has been made as Ulva clathrata, a widely-distributed algae on both US coasts and in Europe. The presence of the algae in the pond is believed to be an indication of nitrogen enrichment, a reminder that controlling human waste and future development will be key if the Great Pond is to be restored to a quality condition.

The Canada goose population on the Island is the result of the release of wing-clipped live decoys in the 1930s following the passage of federal legislation banning the use of live decoys. The offspring of these birds never had the instinct to migrate, resulting in the proliferation of geese we see today, year-round, throughout the Northeast. Canada geese are now believed to be a significant source of nitrogen in our coastal ponds. Except for the period when young are being raised, geese are primarily grazers of upland grasslands, returning at night to the ponds for protection. Their droppings constitute “imported nitrogen.” An Islandwide effort is needed if we are to manage geese effectively. This would involve an army of volunteer egg-addlers, combing the shoreline of every pond on which geese nest. This may seem like a daunting task, but to the credit of our friends on Sengekontacket, just such an effort is under way, under the direction of shellfish constable Dave Grunden. To be effective, an Islandwide effort would have to be organized. The state has been supportive in reducing the goose population by extending the non-migratory Canada goose hunting season. Other measures may also be needed to reduce the population of these long-lived birds.

All of the above measures are going to be important if we are to restore and preserve our coastal ponds. And each town is going to have to tackle the thorny issue of growth and long-range development. There has been much discussion of these issues, but little action to date. Now that the Massachusetts Estuaries Report findings have been released, calling for “a 30 per cent reduction in the load from septic systems wastewater, the loading from upgraded sewage treatment plant, and a productive midsummer breach,” discussions have begun in Edgartown within town boards on the need for thoughtful action. Your public officials need to hear your opinion. But first, do some recreating on the Great Pond in the next few weeks just to get a little perspective on the gem that is ours, and what is at stake.

 

Bob Woodruff is the director of education and science for the Great Pond Foundation. More information is available online at greatpondfoundation.org.