Talk on Future of 208 Water Quality Plan Wraps up Annual One-Cape Summit

Cape Cod Commission Executive Director Paul Niedzwiecki talks to attendees of the One Cape Summit.

HYANNIS – The two-day One Cape Summit wrapped up on Friday at the Resort and Conference Center in Hyannis.

Cape Cod Commission Executive Director Paul Niedzwiecki ended the summit with a presentation on what the next steps are for the Section 208 Water Quality Plan Update and what communities should know for the next 12 months.

Town officials from across the Cape attended the summit, which focused on the execution of the plan.

“There’s a lot of positive momentum in the room, a lot of these communities have done a lot of work over the last decade and that work has intensified in a very positive way over the last 12 months,” said Niedzwiecki. “They see the state, the federal government and the regional government here to help, not here to tell them what to do.”

Attendees on the final day of the summit participated in breakout sessions that focused on scenario planning, regulation, finance and community engagement.

“I want them to know how much progress we’ve made in the last 12 months and then how we’re going to leverage that and continue to get more specific about how we’re going to solve these nitrogen problems in these various watersheds,” said Niedzwiecki.

There was also a panel discussion on the regional knowledge transfer on coastal issues and multi state collaboration, which included Jonathan Stone of Save the Bay, Korrin Peterson with the Buzzards Bay Coalition and Curt Johnson with Save the Sound.

By JUSTIN SAUNDERS, CapeCod.com Newscenter