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About BCWC
Learn about who the Barnstable Clean Water Coalition is, what we do and why our work is so important not only for Barnstable but also across the Cape.
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Sea Level Rise. What does the future hold?
Sea level rise poses a serious threat to low lying areas and shorelines around the world. Consequences include increased intensity of storm surges, tides, flooding, and damage to these coastal areas. In many cases, this is where large population centers are located, in addition to fragile ecosystems and habitats. According to glaciologists at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the Massachusetts Climate Change Adaptation Report, the climate change impact on Cape Cod could result in the Cape and Islands being partially submerged in 50 years. Learn how sea level rise could impact an area in Hyannis that faces Nantucket Sound and where an open space is being considered for a new housing development.
Bosun
Learn more about Bosun, a Monomoy life-saving surf boat that was donated to Barnstable Clean Water Coalition (BCWC) and has since been restored. Bosun was once used by the U.S. Coast Guard and now has a new rescue mission, one that will help those that visit and live on Cape Cod understand the sense of urgency needed to save our local waters.
Drilling Monitoring Wells at Shubael Pond
Learn about the monitoring wells that were installed in the Sand Shores neighborhood along Shubael Pond in Marstons Mills (Barnstable, Massachusetts). These monitoring wells will help measure the groundwater quality and flow in support of the innovative and alternative (I/A) septic systems project in this neighborhood.
Weather Station at Fair Acres Country Day School
Laura Erban, one of the scientists we work with from U.S. EPA ORD, installed a weather station this past August at Fair Acres Country Day School in Marstons Mills. The school is located on the pond’s shore, just opposite the Sand Shores neighborhood where the septic system pilot project is being conducted. This weather station was designed to collect, and record data every fifteen minutes and this data can then be viewed remotely.
About BCWC Videos
Sea Level Rise. What does the future hold?
Sea level rise poses a serious threat to low lying areas and shorelines around the world. Consequences include increased intensity of storm surges, tides, flooding, and damage to these coastal areas. In many cases, this is where large population centers are located, in addition to fragile ecosystems and habitats..
Bosun
Learn more about Bosun, a Monomoy life-saving surf boat that was donated to Barnstable Clean Water Coalition (BCWC) and has since been restored. Bosun was once used by the U.S. Coast Guard and now has a new rescue mission, one that will help those that visit and live on Cape Cod understand the sense of urgency needed to save our local waters.
Drilling Monitoring Wells at Shubael Pond
Learn about the monitoring wells that were installed in the Sand Shores neighborhood along Shubael Pond in Marstons Mills (Barnstable, Massachusetts). These monitoring wells will help measure the groundwater quality and flow in support of the innovative and alternative (I/A) septic systems project in this neighborhood.
Weather Station at Fair Acres Country Day School
Laura Erban, one of the scientists we work with from U.S. EPA ORD, installed a weather station this past August at Fair Acres Country Day School in Marstons Mills. The school is located on the pond’s shore, just opposite the Sand Shores neighborhood where the septic system pilot project is being conducted. This weather station was designed to collect, and record data every fifteen minutes and this data can then be viewed remotely.
Since 2009, BCWC has been an active member of the Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management’s (CZM) Marine Invader Monitoring and Information Collaborative (MIMIC). MIMIC is a network of trained volunteers, scientists, and staff from state and federal agencies who monitor marine invasive species throughout the Northeast.
Learn about cyanobacteria from Karen Malkus-Benjamin, Coastal Health Resources Coordinator for the Town of Barnstable Health Division. Karen discusses the reasons why these toxic blooms have become more prevalent in local ponds over the last few years.
Barnstable Clean Water Coalition (BCWC) held its Annual Open House virtually on June 25, 2020. Hear about the innovative work BCWC is doing to improve water quality on Cape Cod. And special thanks to our guest speaker Chris Kilian from the Conservation Law Foundation for his presentation on the recent Supreme Court decision that upholds the Clean Water Act and how it impacts and protects clean water for all.
Some of the things Barnstable Clean Water Coalition was able to do in 2019.
Learn about how point source and nonpoint source pollution affects a watershed, and the ways to prevent pollution.
Stormwater is a contributor to Cape Cod’s nitrogen loading issues. Did you know there are solutions that you can implement to help ease the impact? The Association to Preserve Cape Cod, the Barnstable Clean Water Coalition, the Barnstable Land Trust, and the Town of Barnstable are working together on a plan to create stormwater solutions in the Three Bays area.
Tuesday, January 22, 2019 the Barnstable Board of Health resumed it’s discussion regarding a proposed modification to the Interim Saltwater Estuary Protection Regulation to limit its applicability to the Craigville Beach Zoning District.
BCWC Board Member Jack Ahern and his students presented at a Barnstable Town Council Meeting regarding sea level rise and coastal resiliency.
For the summer series on endangered natural treasures, head to Cape Cod, a peninsula in the eastern United States, a paradise today threatened by the proliferation of green algae.
In 2017, the organization known as Three Bays Preservation transitioned into the Barnstable Clean Water Coalition (BCWC). BCWC’s new mission addresses clean water issues throughout watersheds in the Town of Barnstable, Massachusetts.
On the Water Videos
For over 20 years, Barnstable Clean Water Coalition (BCWC) has worked with the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth’s School for Marine Science and Technology (SMAST) collecting water samples and associated water quality data in the Three Bays estuary. The Massachusetts Estuary Project reports that the 1,251-acre Three Bays estuary that includes West, North and Cotuit Bays exceeds a critical threshold for nitrogen that is harmful to water quality, human health, and is toxic for wildlife and plant life.
Barnstable Clean Water Coalition (BCWC) is responsible for co-managing Dead Neck Sampson’s Island with the Massachusetts Audubon Society. In this video, learn about the history of DNSI, the variety of shorebirds that nest on the island, and how BCWC educates island visitors about this fragile barrier island and its winged inhabitants.
In the Cranberry Bogs Videos
This video is part 2 about a pilot project being conducted by Barnstable Clean Water Coalition (BCWC) and our partners as we use biochar in the installation of three new bioreactors in different cranberry bog ditches.
In this video, you will learn from Elizabeth and Brian what a PRB is, the materials being used and what actions they need to consider as they continue with the project. The objective of this pilot project is to learn what steps need to be taken to implement modular and larger scale PRBs in a multitude of eco-systems across Cape Cod and beyond.
Learn about a pilot project being conducted by Barnstable Clean Water Coalition (BCWC) and our partners as we install a woodchip-based bioreactor in one of the ditches in the bogs with the ultimate goal of reducing the nutrient content in the bog’s surface water before it flows into the river.
BCWC is working on several initiatives to remove excess nutrients from the Cape’s groundwater. In late December 2019, a workshop was convened to discuss a cranberry bog restoration project focused on a system of cranberry bogs located in Marstons Mills, MA.
Cape Cod has fifty-three watersheds and almost all are negatively impacted by nutrient pollution, primarily nitrogen and phosphorus. Barnstable Clean Water Coalition is exploring and implementing nature-based and alternative solutions to address these nutrient overload problems and retired cranberry bogs are ideal locations that could offer just that opportunity.
To make use of the hundreds of acres of unused cranberry farm land on Cape Cod, the Massachusetts Department of Ecological Restoration created the Cranberry Bog Program, a process that turns retired bogs back into the wetlands they once were.
Friendly Landscaping Videos
Barnstable Clean Water Coalition and Cape Cod Beer have teamed up to create Clean Water Wednesdays, an educational series that pre-COVID19 were held at Cape Cod Beer. With a little tech help we were able to have a webinar version of Clean Water Wednesdays. Join the experts as we deep dive into topics that are affecting not only our water on Cape Cod but globally as well! #CleanWaterMatters
Shellfish Videos
For the past three summers, Barnstable Clean Water Coalition has partnered with the Massachusetts Oyster Project and the town of Barnstable on an upweller demonstration project on Hyannis Harbor to show how oysters play a critical role in improving water quality and clarity.
Barnstable Clean Water Coalition has partnered with the Massachusetts Oyster Project and the town of Barnstable on an upweller demonstration project on Hyannis Harbor to show how oysters play a critical role in improving water quality and clarity.
MOVERS & SHUCKERS!
Season 2
MOVERS & SHUCKERS!
Season 1
In partnership with the Massachusetts Oyster Project and the Town of Barnstable, BCWC built and installed an oyster upweller tank at Gateway Marina on Hyannis Harbor during the summer of 2018. The goal of this partnership was two-fold: to raise oysters from seed-size (2mm) to juvenile-size (25mm) in the upweller using water pumped from the harbor and to demonstrate that oysters improve water quality and clarity by filtering out nutrients and sediment.
Septic System Videos
In August 2021, Barnstable Clean Water Coalition (BCWC) began the installation of several KleanTu NitROE enhanced I/A septic systems in a neighborhood as part of the Shubael Pond Innovative and Alternative (I/A) Septic System Project. BCWC’s Executive Director Zee Crocker explains the importance of this project to improve water quality around the neighborhood.
Learn from wastewater and environmental researchers from the Massachusetts Alternative Septic System Test Center (MASSTC) on what a Title 5 septic system is and why alternative septic systems are being investigated to help with nutrient overload in our Cape Cod waterways.
Learn about the critical work that is being done at the Massachusetts Alternative Septic System Test Center (MASSTC) with the testing of innovative and alternative septic systems and technologies.
Barnstable Clean Water Coalition (BCWC)’s Executive Director Zee Crocker explains how nitrogen from septic systems negatively impacts water quality. John Smith, President of Klean Tu Waste Water Treatment Technologies, discusses the NitROE WWTS, an innovative and alternative septic system that can significantly reduce nitrogen levels.