This
article was originally published in the March 21st edition of The Bourne
Enterprise, reproduced here by permission of the Executive Editor of
CapeNews.net.
© Copyright 2025 CapeNews.net, 50 Depot Avenue, Falmouth, MA
Guest Commentary
Nitrate In Squeteague
Harbor And Where It Came From
GEORGE SEAVER
The Bourne Select Board’s proposed plan to remove nitrate from Squeteague and Megansett harbors contradicts widely published data. However, up to this point it has been the secrecy of the process that made this commentary necessary.
Either the proposed sewage treatment plant or the 285 nitrate-removing septic replacements (actually mini-treatment plants) would create a major disruption, both financially and in lifestyle, to the people of Cataumet. My expertise and experience is with nitrate levels in Buzzards Bay estuaries, its sources, its trends and analysis. That is what this article is about.
In 1988, myself and Alan Kuzirian, a resident of Cataumet and MBL scientist, began to make preliminary chemical measurements in Squeteague and the groundwater entering it. We focused on winter samples after most biological activity had ceased because that represented total yearly nitrate levels needed to determine sources, trends and export levels into Buzzards Bay. At the MBL we analyzed the samples for nine constituents, including nitrate (NO3), oxygen (O2), phosphate (PO4) and salinity. For quality control we had split samples analyzed by two different labs. From the 35 years of measurements we have published five papers in scientific journals between 2007 and November 2024. This is the source of the results presented here and they are available online and in libraries.
The results from this program are relevant to Bourne’s submitted Comprehensive Wastewater Management Plan and, most importantly, to the Massachusetts Estuaries Project assessment of Squeteague that nitrate levels are “impaired,” which began it all. Specifically, our results show that there has been significant nitrate entering Squeteague periodically from four known groundwater sources, but no measurable amounts from septic systems and that the total annually averaged nitrate in Squeteague has declined by 60% since 2004. This reflects the 60% decline in atmospheric nitrate precipitation since 2004.
To expand upon the significance of this data, there are 9,000 largely uninhabited acres on Joint Base Cape Cod that are part of the Squeteague and Buzzards Bay watershed. Scientists from the MBL have published over the years much evidence on these estuaries that show, at this low-population density, septic system nitrate is not measurable in an estuary. Also, in the recent November 2004 publication by the cited authors the nitrate levels, aside from the known input sources, are small (.04 mg/L) and decreasing since 2004. This background nitrate level does not show the septic nitrate from the 48% population increase since 1988, which is broken down in the groundwater flow.
Additional contradictions between the Comprehensive Wastewater Management Plan and our results are that they state that there has been a “three-degree estuary temperature increase (no dates given) from Climate Change,” but our results show a -0.51 C Squeteague temperature decrease between 1988 and 2024; and the Comprehensive Wastewater Management Plan states that Squeteague shellfish closures were from “Climate Change temperature increase and sewage leaks,” but our 2001 data show that coliform from geese feces was the cause and when the geese were scared off the closures stopped.
A further concern and contradiction that Long Island discovered when their wastewater treatment was expanded is that dense development was enabled. Local examples are Buzzards Bay after they were connected to Wareham’s sewer treatment system. Now Buzzards Bay has a hotel and multiple high-rise apartment buildings. Likewise, Falmouth has many apartment buildings under construction after treatment plant expansion and Long Island’s farms are long gone. In our case it will be the cranberry bogs.
In conclusion it is now apparent that an open forum is necessary on the Massachusetts Estuaries Project’s assessment of “nitrogen impairment” to Squeteague Harbor and the Town of Bourne’s subsequent decision to move forward on that assessment.