What are the nutrient sources to Oyster Pond? Where do they come from? What is the "nitrogen threshold" level that Oyster Pond can tolerate before it experiences the negative impacts of nitrogen loading? What are the best management options for reducing nitrogen sources to the Pond? These are questions that will be answered in a study of Oyster Pond under the Estuaries Project, a collaboration between the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, UMASS Dartmouth School of Marine Science and Technology (SMAST), Cape Cod Commission and southeastern Massachusetts communities. Oyster Pond is fortunate to be the 17th out of the 89 estuaries selected for the Project. The ultimate goal of the Estuaries Project is to provide communities with a watershed/estuary computer model that will predict water quality changes of the selected estuaries under different management scenarios.

The four-step process begins with data collection. First, the geographic area that makes up Oyster Pond’s watershed is delineated. Then, the type and amount of nutrients coming from each land use in the watershed (septic systems, storm water runoff, or lawn fertilizers) is estimated. Next, the nitrogen "threshold level" or Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLS) is determined based on the level of nutrient the Pond can accept while protecting the embayment health and also meeting water quality standards. This information,

This Linked Model can then run different management scenarios or "what-ifs" for reducing the nitrogen load to the Pond while assessing their impact. Possible management choices include reducing or eliminating storm water inputs to Oyster Pond, purchasing land to prevent development, upgrading septic systems, and/or reducing fertilizer inputs. Running these different computer scenarios will give the Town of Falmouth the ability to decide how each management option or combinations of options will compare in ease of implementation, cost effectiveness and benefits. Over time, the Linked Model can be updated as land uses or embayment characteristics change. In the end, the hope is that the project will provide a consistent, statewide, scientifically defensible approach to control and manage nutrients on an estuary-by-estuary basis. Massachusetts DEP, SMAST, and the communities of the selected estuaries share the costs of the program. In April, Falmouth’s Spring Town Meeting voted to appropriate $73,800 in matching funds to the Estuaries Project for Little Pond, West Falmouth Harbor and Oyster Pond.

OPET Awards Science Fair Prize to FHS Student

Falmouth High School student, Ashley Banks, was awarded the OPET science fair prize for the best project related to the biology, chemistry, or physics of Oyster Pond and its watershed. Entitled Atmospheric Deposition as a source of Nitrogen, Ashley’s project demonstrated that rain falling within 100 feet of the Woods Hole Road was enriched in nitrogen relative to rain falling about 300 feet away from the road. Passers-by may have seen Ashley’s white funnels adorning the front lawn of The Woods Hole Research Center, where the study was conducted under the supervision of Dr. Eric Davidson, an OPET board member. Ashley also placed funnels underneath trees to capture water dripping through the tree canopy, and these samples were even more nitrogen-enriched The exhaust from auto-mobiles includes nitrogen both as a gas and in tiny particles, called aerosols, which get deposited on nearby foliage. When it rains, this nitrogen gets washed into the soil and may eventually make its way into the groundwater or into surface runoff that goes to Oyster Pond. Nitrogen is one of the nutrients that contributes to noxious algal blooms in the pond. "Vehicular traffic does

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