Falmouth's Great Pond Area Next Up For Sewering Construction of a sewer system to serve the areas of Teaticket and Acapesket is projected for 2026.
“
The town has put up money for design, and planning is currently underway and this is the timetable,” Water Quality Management Committee chairman Eric T. Turkington told the select board on Monday, December 21. “These two pieces both affect Great Pond, which except for Waquoit Bay, is the water body most in need of nitrogen reduction.” While sewering will go a long way toward reducing nitrogen in Great Pond, it will not eliminate it. “I will caution us, because 60 percent of the water that comes into this water body comes from the Coonamessett River system, sewering these two areas will get rid of a lot of the problem. It will not get rid of all of the problem,” Mr. Turkington said. “There is a lot of water coming in that isn’t coming from the neighborhood. It is coming from north of [Route] 28.” Describing sewering as sensible, he said it is reasonable to expect the water in Great Pond will “improve a lot with this.” New sewers must be accompanied by an upgrade to the wastewater treatment facility, which Mr. Turkington described as “the easy one.” “We have to keep it running and we have to keep it up to date,” he said. “A failure up there would be too horrible to contemplate. I know Amy has come to you with plans for upgrading what needs to be done up there,” he said, referring to wastewater superintendent Amy Lowell. The upgrade is likely to go before Falmouth Town Meeting in 2022. “It is a no-brainer,” Mr. Turkington said. “You can’t have a sewer system in town and not maintain it.” There is also the matter of sewer discharge.
SEPTEMBER, JANUARY, 2021 2016
“As you are well aware now, we have a permitted capacity and we have a certain flow,” Mr. Turkington said. “If we’re going to add any systems, in Teaticket, Acapesket or anywhere else, we’re going to need to find a new place for the treated effluent that is produced to be discharged.” Potential locations for a discharge site include next to the wastewater treatment facility on Blacksmith Shop Road; at the Dorothea Allen parcel off Carriage Shop Road, and at the Augusta parcel in Teaticket. The water quality management committee is also considering an ocean outfall. “Before too long, we will be back before you with more detailed information and more detailed recommendations on what the pros and cons are, and what the town should be doing,” Mr. Turkington said. The committee is also looking at Waquoit Bay. “Waquoit Bay, not only does it have navigation continued on page 67
“BUY FROM THE ADVERTISERS IN CONSTRUCTION OUTLOOK”
00 65
