Cape Cod Commission Part of Regional Water Quality Network

HYANNIS – The Cape Cod Commission has joined a dozen other organizations to establish the Southeast New England Technical Assistance Network.

The network will bring together regional experts in stormwater management, financing, water quality and habitat restoration, green infrastructure, low impact development, and environmental restoration.

They will be able to offer technical and financial services to communities and organizations in Southeastern New England.

The network has received a $1.75 million grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Southeast New England Program for Coastal Watershed Management.

“We are pleased to work collaboratively with these experts and expand the technical assistance that we at the Cape Cod Commission can provide to Cape communities,” said Kristy Senatori, the Cape Cod Commission’s executive director.

Underlying the effort is an understanding that not one single organization or community can solve the complex storm water, water quality and habitat issues facing the region.

“We are really pleased to see that the federal administration through the U.S. EPA recognizes the need to work collaboratively on these regional issues,” Senatori said.

“Partnering with other organizations across the Southeast New England region is extremely important as we look to solve our water quality issues and challenges.”

Senatori said learning best practices will be beneficial to Cape Cod as work continues to find solutions for wastewater, water quality and storm water issues.

The Cape Cod Commission will provide expertise in storm water solutions to the other participating organizations.

Senatori said the Commission will also look into innovative financing techniques.

“We might be able to provide technical assistance to the communities as they look at some of these daunting numbers and figure out different ways to implement different types of strategies that can decrease of their overall costs to tackle these water quality issues,” Senatori said.

Network partners will meet periodically.

“As the project gets underway there will be more communication and external platforms for sharing this data and information,” Senatori said.

The network will look into different types of communication platforms to more easily share and export data and information.

Senatori is hopeful that the network will be able to expand, grow and be successful and provide assistance for communities and organizations in many different ways.

The Stormwater Technical Assistance Network includes: New England Environmental Finance Center at University of Southern Maine, Audubon Society in Rhode Island, Mass Audubon’s Shaping the Future of Your Community Program, Brown University, Cape Cod Commission, Environmental Finance Center at Syracuse University, Environmental Finance Center at University of North Carolina, Elizabeth Scott Consulting, Kimberly Groff Consulting, The Nature Conservancy in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, Rhode Island School of Design, Save the Bay, Throwe Environmental, University of New Hampshire Stormwater Center, and University of Rhode Island.

About CapeCod.com NewsCenter

The award-winning CapeCod.com NewsCenter provides the Cape Cod community with a constant, credible source for local news. We are on the job seven days a week.



CapeCod.com
737 West Main Street
Hyannis, MA 02601
Contact Us | Advertise Terms of Use 
Employment and EEO | Privacy