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Falmouth officials outline expanded monitoring, permitting schedule for proposed ocean outfall
Summary
Wastewater superintendent Amy Lowell told the Select Board the town has expanded eelgrass and benthic baseline monitoring for a two‑year program, completed marine permitting steps for borings and engaged USGS aquifer modeling; regulators require broader control areas and the town will seek supplemental funding for increased survey scope at November town meeting.
Wastewater Superintendent Amy Lowell briefed the Select Board on the town’s multi‑year plan to collect environmental baseline data and secure permits for a proposed ocean outfall intended to reduce nitrogen loading from sewered neighborhoods.
Lowell said the town has stood up a regulatory review team with state agencies (DEP, CZM, DMF, EPA, US Army Corps and Water Management Act personnel) and that regulators asked the town to expand its initial eelgrass and benthic survey area to include control sites outside the expected outfall influence. "We had to almost double the area that we will be surveying," she said, and that increase has raised baseline survey costs.
The Ocean Sanctuaries Act requires a two‑year baseline monitoring program before permitting a new ocean outfall. Lowell said the town has been collecting twice‑monthly water quality samples since May and completed an eelgrass survey and two benthic surveys this year. The town has contracted marine borings (one at Kite Park and six more at ~500‑foot intervals outshore) to characterize subsurface conditions necessary to design a directionally drilled outfall. Lowell said the drilling coring will be carried out in winter months to avoid peak recreation season and noise impacts and that the town expects to start borings in December after permits are issued.
The town engaged the U.S. Geological Survey to model potential aquifer impacts of discharging treated wastewater to the ocean instead of land. Lowell described preliminary USGS results as positive and said the report will undergo peer review with a formal public release planned in January 2025.
Lowell and staff noted the Interbasin Transfer Act does not apply because the outfall will be within municipal limits and will not accept wastewater from other towns. She described a multi‑stage timeline: complete baseline monitoring through 2025, draft environmental impact report by late 2025 or early 2026, final EIR and outfall design by 2028 and potential construction 2029–2032, contingent on permitting and funding.
The board asked about capacity for future growth; Lowell said the town has planned a 2,000,000‑gallon‑per‑day outfall design average daily flow that includes projected sewer areas and contingency, currently estimated conservatively at about 1.7 million gpd for areas already being planned. Lowell said that gives the town expansion room but is not unlimited.
Next steps: supplemental funding for the enlarged baseline survey will be requested at the November town meeting; the town will proceed with winter marine borings once permits are issued and continue regulatory coordination with state agencies.
