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.

A yearlong investigation into record-keeping practices at the Edgartown wastewater treatment plant came to an end this week with the release of a sharply critical report from a special town attorney, who found a long list of deficiencies in management practices at the plant and in the way the elected members of the town wastewater commission conducted themselves.

A nine-month investigation by state and local police into possible fraud at the Edgartown wastewater treatment plant concluded this week with a criminal complaint against an Island septic hauler, alongside allegations of widespread mismanagement at the sewer plant and possible ethics violations by town employees and elected officials.

Tracing the Problem

The algal bloom in Edgartown Great Pond has prompted much well-justified discussion and concern.The following is intended to provide a little additional detail on prospective solutions to improve the health of the pond.

Long-Running Case Goes to High Court

Edgartown Wastewater Treatment Plant Under Legal Seige for Ten Years Over Its Discharge Permit

By IAN FEIN

A decade-long legal battle examining the environmental merits of the Edgartown sewer system and wastewater treatment plant came before the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court last week.

The court heard arguments on the case last Thursday and will likely issue a decision sometime this spring.