County Allocates $1.4 Million for Septic Upgrades in Island Towns

The Dukes County commission voted this week to dedicate $1.4 million to help all seven towns in the county install septic systems designed to prevent nitrogen from seeping into fragile saltwater ponds.

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Towns Ready Themselves for Looming Wastewater Changes

As a tectonic shift in state wastewater regulations is under consideration by state officials, Island homeowners and towns are bracing for what could be millions of dollars in mandatory upgrades in the coming years.

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Lagoon Pond Closed to Shellfishing

Lagoon Pond and just outside of the Lagoon Pond Bridge was closed to shellfishing after a sewer pipe broke at Martha’s Vineyard Hospital Tuesday.

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State Proposes Major Overhaul of Septic Regulations

As coastal ponds and estuaries continue to deteriorate throughout the Cape and Islands, the DEP has proposed a pair of wastewater regulation amendments that could have sweeping impacts across the region.

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Edgartown Enforces Strict Limits at Wastewater Plant

The Edgartown wastewater treatment facility has dramatically curtailed its capacity for taking pumpouts from septic systems in recent months, forcing septic haulers to scramble.

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Graphic Report: Jay's Septic
Paul Karasik

A detailed look at the work of the man who keeps Island septic systems tuned up and running at peak performance.

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Sewering Can Help Save Ponds, But at a Cost
Alex Elvin

Without wastewater treatment facilities, Island ponds could be in worse shape. Estuaries suffer from nitrogen overload, coming mostly from septic systems that remove bacteria but not nitrogen.

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Wastewater: Plumbing All the Alternatives
Alex Elvin

A few hundred alternative systems are installed on Martha's Vineyard, mostly in Edgartown and Oak Bluffs. The technology could help achieve nitrogen mitigation in Island coastal ponds.

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Sewer System Deadline Nears
Chris Burrell

With only two months to go before the Oak Bluffs wastewater
plant switches into gear, the town has no one to man the
operation.

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Island Official's Septic Permit Raises Issues of Zoning Rules
CHRIS BURRELL

Island Official's Septic Permit Raises Issues of Zoning Rules

By CHRIS BURRELL

The operator of the Island's only two sewage treatment plants,
who is also a member and former chairman of the Oak Bluffs board of
health, may have sidestepped state environmental regulations when he
applied for permits to have his old house demolished and a new one built
in its place.

Joseph Alosso's property off County road sits in an area of
town called Zone 2, where strict state and local regulations protect the
town drinking water supply.

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