When most people envision wastewater pollution the first image that comes to mind is a big pipe spewing foul sludge directly into the water. They would also probably imagine that this happens ‘somewhere else.’ Neither could be further from the truth. The fact is that we all consume, pee, and poo and it all goes somewhere. Often, that somewhere is into the ground and even that goes somewhere too!
A recent article in the New York Times, A Toxic Stew on Cape Cod: Human Waste and Warming Water, takes a deep dive into wastewater-derived challenges that the many small townships that make up Cape Cod, Massachusetts have been wrestling with for years. Eroding marshes make the region susceptible to storm surges and sea level rise, harmful algae blooms and dense macro-algae are leading to decreased oxygen and acidification of the water decimating shellfish and seagrass beds that are critical to the maritime heritage and way of life that lured so many to either vacation there or live there.
The Cape, as it is often referred to, is a pile of sand and gravel deposited as mile-high glaciers began to recede some 10,000 years ago at the end of the last ice age (this is important, I’ll get to it). Historically, The Cape was settled with small fishing communities that relied on the oceans' great bounty of cod, swordfish, and tuna offshore, with hard clams, scallops, and oysters in the nearshore bays, creeks, and harbors. The Cape also has a reputation as a seasonal resort community from modest cottages to the well-known estates of the Kennedys.
This is similar to where I live on the eastern end of Long Island, New York with a development pattern of allowing for onsite waste disposal via cesspools and limiting sewering because it was seen as an incentive for excess density, too expensive, or both. This brings us back to being a pile of sand.
Turns out that sand is a really good filter, particularly for pathogens. It is not so great at removing much else like nutrients or pharmaceuticals. Over the last two decades the development pressures, and the toilet flushes, of the previous generation are hitting the bays. And they are hitting them hard.
The nutrients flushed down the toilet and into the sand filter are fueling the algae that are killing the marshes, seagrass, and shellfish. Taking down livelihoods, threatening home values and tourism with it. The folks on the Cape have done some amazing planning and research into this problem and I have learned a ton from them about wastewater, groundwater flows, and the myriad of potential solutions to this problem.
The difference between the two regions is governance.
The Cape has some 16 small Townships that each have control over health codes which dictate what types of sanitation can be utilized whereas where I live in Suffolk County NY, its 1.5 million inhabitants have authority over health codes. Coming up with policies, and funding to enact the policies is a daunting task for small-town governments and can create confusion for the private sector looking to invest in the region.
Yes, it is going to be expensive and yes, it is going to continue costing more into the future but what we are seeing now is that the cost of doing nothing is far outpacing the cost of taking action. This is not something that happens somewhere else, there is no big pipe to point at and yes even the wealthiest of communities' pipes will back up too. It is each and every one of us that is responsible and we all need to take collective action.
