The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has
found elevated levels of lead in two samples of the Edgartown water
supply, a violation of state clean drinking water standards.

The violation forces the Edgartown water department to perform
additional testing on the public water supply and to inform the public
of the violation. An advertisement alerting residents to the violation
and paid for by the town appears in today's edition of the
Gazette.

A continuing contractual dispute between the state Department of Environmental Protection and the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth is delaying efforts to clean coastal waters all over the Cape and Islands, and must be solved quickly, state Sen. Robert O’Leary said yesterday.

The 11-month standoff has left towns without important data, compiled under the Massachusetts Estuaries Project, documenting the health and particularly the nutrient loading of their estuaries, bays and ponds. The information is needed for remediation and planning.

Island authorities must radically cut nitrogen pollution in the Edgartown Great Pond, state officials told a public hearing Wednesday at Edgartown town hall about the final report from the Massachusetts Estuaries Project.

The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection held the hearing to discuss the pond’s nitrogen problems and the requirement for a Comprehensive Wastewater Management Plan to limit nitrogen seeping into it.

The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection has levied a heavy fine against an Edgartown contractor who did the work on a Mink Meadows project last year that violated state and local wetlands laws.

In an administrative consent order issued June 29, Steve Handy of Handy Trucking and Bobcat Service was fined $11,000 by the DEP for the unpermitted dredging and filling work. Mr. Handy was ordered by the DEP to pay $4,500; the balance of the $11,000 fine will be suspended for three years as long as there are no further violations.