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