The Buzzards Bay Coalition has been supporting Falmouth’s efforts to reduce nitrogen pollution. After many meetings scrutinizing the town’s septic regulations, the Board of Health voted last month to approve and enact changes that mandate septic upgrades be best available nitrogen-reducing technology (BANRT) septic systems.

These upgrades will be required by new construction or triggered if septic flow increases in Falmouth’s nitrogen-regulated areas. New construction consists of building a new home or a raze and rebuild. Adding bedrooms to an existing home or expanding commercial properties will warrant an upgrade.

Best available nitrogen-reducing technology (BANRT) in place. Photo from the Town of Falmouth.

The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) had mandated that the town submit watershed management plans that detail how the town will protect water quality for drinking water, estuaries, freshwater ponds and coastal waters. This was one of their priorities.

More than half of Buzzards Bay’s harbors, coves, and tidal rivers suffer from nitrogen pollution – from West Falmouth Harbor all the way to the Westport Rivers. Our Bay Health data clearly show the Bay’s decline from nitrogen pollution over the past 25 years.

The Coalition has long pushed state and federal governments to enforce pollution laws and to deliver funding that our communities need to clean up nitrogen. We have supported numerous communities, most recently in Fairhaven with their $75 million investment in their wastewater treatment facility, to upgrade their sewer systems to remove more nitrogen from the discharge.

MassDEP determines nitrogen-sensitive areas and nitrogen thresholds for towns to meet. Falmouth’s, for instance, is 10 milligrams of nitrogen per liter.

After suggestions from the public hearing on the regulation on September 3, the draft regulation was revised to include Black Beach/Great Sippewissett Marsh and the Drinking Water Resource Protection Overlay District as nitrogen-regulated areas. The regulation includes an exception for new construction in future sewer service areas.

On the Cape, Wellfleet, Tisbury and Sandwich already require upgrades to BANRT septic systems for new construction, deed transfer, or if a property still uses a cesspool. And across the Bay on the South Coast, the towns of Westport, Marion and Wareham have similar regulations requiring denitrifying septic systems for all new construction.

The board agreed to implement the regulations quickly: Nov. 15 this year.