APCC Restoration Ecologist April Wobst speaks during a public meeting at the Cotuit Library.
COTUIT – The Association to Preserve Cape Cod (APCC) kicked off their restoration project to clean up the Three Bays watershed with a public meeting at the Cotuit Library on Wednesday night.
The Town of Barnstable has been working to improve water quality in the Three Bays for years through the installation of storm water projects to remove nutrients, bacteria and other pollutants before it enters the bays.
“Everyone who lives in this area has a lawn, what they’re doing everyday can have an impact on the water quality in the bays and that’s one of the messages, in addition to what we’re doing with this project,” said APCC Restoration Ecologist April Wobst.
The Environmental Protection Agency Southeast New England Program for Coastal Watershed Restoration awarded the APCC and the town more than $472,000 for a three year storm water project in the Three Bays watershed.
This year, the APCC is working on getting input for the assessment and is prioritizing potential sites for design and installation.
Starting this fall, the group will then be working on the design, permit applications, with the treatment systems being installed by late 2018.
Then, the APCC will spend a year monitoring and seeing how much pollutants were taken out by the system and will report the findings to the EPA.
The project is expected to enhance the town’s capacity to continue the work.
“We are having issues in the bays and we can do something about it and I think all of us together, we can work and improve the water quality in the bay,” said Barnstable DPW Senior Project Manager Dale Saad.
Those that attended the meeting learned more about the impacts of stormwater pollutants on water quality in the bays and how they can help.
Another meeting is scheduled for Thursday at 7 p.m. at the Osterville Library.
By JUSTIN SAUNDERS, CapeCod.com Newscenter
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