Nantucket Board of Health extends moratorium 60 days on septic-system nitrogen credits, orders regulation drafting

The Nantucket Board of Health on Sept. 10 voted to extend for 60 days a moratorium on septic-system nitrogen‑loading credit variances in the island’s Wellhead Protection District and Hummock Pond area, and directed staff to prepare draft regulatory language for town‑counsel review and public notice.

The moratorium, first adopted in June, temporarily bars new variance approvals in the two protection zones while the board develops findings and a regulatory proposal. The board said the pause is intended to allow time to evaluate more recent testing and to align local rules with emerging state guidance on nitrogen‑reducing systems.

Board members and technical presenters discussed the scale of the risk to the island’s single‑source aquifer and considered whether rules already applied in Nantucket Harbor and Madaket Harbor should be extended to the other two districts. In discussion the board cited recent well testing and transfer‑of‑property data that staff supplied and asked for a written regulatory proposal to be circulated to town counsel and posted for public comment.

“For the record, Paul Santos with Nantucket Surveyors” said the special…