A less expensive alternative to sewering?

I recently received a four-page newsletter entitled, "Comprehensive Wastewater Management Planning Project," outlining the issues and process behind the effort to address the nitrogen loading in our salt ponds and estuaries. Kudos to the Nutrient Management Planning Committee for taking this long overdue step.

Next time around, I'd suggest making space for the address and postage on the newsletter itself. Not only is it more likely to be read (easier to open), it will save the cost of envelopes – and stuffing them.

That said; I was disappointed to learn that the Nitrex system was not amongst the potential alternatives being studied. Rather than install pipes and pumps and build sewage treatment plants, Nitrex simply retrofits existing septic systems, intercepting and removing nitrogen from the effluent. During my tenure on the conservation commission, we approved two test installations in the Waquoit Bay watershed.

Recent estimates for sewering Mashpee – which also faces nitrogen loading issues – hover around $500 million. This is roughly the same amount that has been suggested for Falmouth. However, while that estimate was downplayed here, in Mashpee they are taking it seriously and giving serious consideration to the Nitrex system as a less expensive alternative.

Falmouth should follow Masphee's lead and explore alternatives to traditional sewers. As an acquaintance of mine – a civil engineer – observed during last year's New Silver Beach debate, it seems as though our local leaders "would rather throw money and 1960’s technology at a 2007 problem."


This post was also published in the Friday, March 28, 2008 Falmouth Enterprise as a letter entitled, "Explore Wastewater Solutions."

My english teachers always taught me to capitalize formal names, and I submitted my letter with "Nutrient Management Planning Committee" capitalized, but the Enterprise removed the capitalization. Go figure.