The Wareham Nitrogen Consensus AN ACTION PLAN • 2010 table of contents Commitment Statement ................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 2 Executive Summary .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 4 Background ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 6 Process ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................6 Importance.................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................7 We Must Simultaneously Act While Also Seeking New Information .................................................................................................................................7 Wareham Must Act Locally First ...................................................................................................................................................................................................7 We Recognize and Celebrate What Wareham Has Already Achieved .................................................................................................................................7 Agreement on the Problem ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................8 Nitrogen Pollution is Harming Wareham’s Waters ...................................................................................................................................................................8 What We Know Today .....................................................................................................................................................................................................................9 Wastewater .....................................................................................................................................................................................................................9 Cranberry Bogs ..............................................................................................................................................................................................................10 The Massachusetts Estuaries Project Draft Wareham River Report ....................................................................................................................................11 What We Don’t Know/Assumptions ............................................................................................................................................................................................11 The Uniqueness of Wareham’s Many Waterways ......................................................................................................................................................................11 An Action Plan ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 12 Planning Actions.................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 12 Need the Completion & Release of Final Wareham River MEP Report ..............................................................................................................................12 The Weweantic River Demands our Attention Next ...............................................................................................................................................................15 Commitment to Ongoing Process ..................................................................................................................................................................................................18 Wastewater Actions .............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 19 Significantly Reduce Nitrogen from Existing Wastewater Sources .......................................................................................................................................19 Phase I (2010-2012) ......................................................................................................................................................................................................19 Finish the Sewering That Has Been Started .....................................................................................................................................19 Reduce the Permitted WWTF Nitrogen Limit ..............................................................................................................................20 Bring All Mobile Home Parks Into Compliance ..............................................................................................................................20 Determine Capacity of WWTF & Use Available Capacity to Connect Existing Densely Developed Neighborhoods ...................................................................................................................23 Phase II (2012-2014) ....................................................................................................................................................................................................27 Bring Municipal Sewer to up to 1,000 Additional Homes ............................................................................................................27 All New Growth Must Be Built to be “Nitrogen-Zero” (Phase1) ...........................................................................................................................................27 Large Developments with Groundwater Discharge Permits ...............................................................................................................................28 Developments Equal To or Greater Than 10 Homes ..........................................................................................................................................28 Single-Family Homes and Developments of Less Than 10 Homes ..................................................................................................................28 New Management, Reporting and Enforcement Systems ...................................................................................................................................29 Cranberry Actions ................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 30 Reducing Nitrogen Loss from Existing Cranberry Bogs ...........................................................................................................................................................30 Phase I (2010-2012) ......................................................................................................................................................................................................30 New Monitoring is Needed to Better Estimate Nitrogen Losses.................................................................................................30 Grower Community Needs Additional Technical Assistance ......................................................................................................31 Different Cranberry Bog Types Have Different Impacts ...............................................................................................................31 Creation of a Multi-Party Collaborative to Create & Review BMPs ...........................................................................................33 Phase II (2012-2014) ....................................................................................................................................................................................................34 Determine Actual Nitrogen Loading from Cranberry Bogs .........................................................................................................34 Other Supporting Actions .................................................................................................................................................................................................. 34 Good Stormwater Management Practices & Limit Lawn Size ...............................................................................................................................................34