HomeMy Public PortalAboutM&FWQC 2019-08-19 19 ill_T 5 ZJbP11
ORL Pi!S TOR CLERK
TOWN OF ORLEANS G -G- 1
Marine & Fresh Water Quality Committee are
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Meeting Minutes CP*A M, �
Monday, August 19, 2019 10 a.m. cite'l rt
Skaket Room, Orleans Town Hall
Members Present: Judith Bruce, Carol Etzold, Betsy Furtney, Carolyn Kennedy, Lara Slifka (by phone-
in),
Ed Hafner,Judy Scanlon.
1. Approval of Minutes for July 15, 2019
Motion made by Carol, seconded by Betsy, minutes were approved (5-0-2, abstaining- Ed,
Lara, who both missed the meeting)
2. Summer Estuary Sampling
The Committee reviewed the 2019 Nauset Estuary and Pleasant Bay dissolved oxygen data
(item 1 below, under Documents), which also had last year's data for comparison. A member
noted lots of brown water in Pleasant Bay, which may be due to a particular species of blue-
green algae or other plankton. There seems to be some difficulties this year with samplers
getting proper DO meter calibrations.
A clean-up day, September 9th, at 9:30 a.m.,was established, and the equipment should be
returned by September 4th.
3. Organizing for PALS freshwater pond sampling
Unfortunately, the Cape Cod Commission is unable to help us this year with sample delivery to
SMAST for analysis. We are undertaking this with purchases of ice to keep the samples cold
and delivery to Ed Eichner's house. Some more ponds will be sampled on Thursday,
September 5th, and the 12th if the need arises. The window for sampling is August 15th to
September 19th for PALS.
4 Shell Day,August 22-23
August 22nd is Shell Day when volunteers from Maine to Long Island will carry out regional
observations and water sampling in a citizen science activity. Sampling will be done at low,
mid and high tides and these samples will be driven to Woods Hole on August 23 for
collection; MIT and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute are sponsoring the project and
ultimately help determine coastal water acidification progression. Activities that could be
used to help the public understand the problem will be demonstrated. Orleans will be
sampling in Lonnies Pond on August 22. See item 2 in the Documents section below for more
information and also check out NECN.org/shellday.
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5. RFP for FW Pond Consultant
The Town advertised this consulting position in the Cape Codder, 8/16/2019. (Purpose is to
help Town utilize pond data and make management/remediation recommendations) (See
item 4 in Documents section below). Submissions will be received until September 16th, 3
p.m.
6. Stormwater Impacts on Freshwater Ponds-develop priority list
The Committee wishes to continue a discussion of stormwater problems with Tom Daley and
wants to present a list of which ponds need attention and what they need. Accordingly,
members suggested the herring run on Herring Brook Road leading to Pilgrim Lake. Also the
storm-water runoff to Baker's Pond via the newly created sluiceway that seems to be filled
with sediment, and maybe that the sluiceway does more harm than good. Maybe a vegetative
swale would be better.The Cedar Pond fix needs observation to see if it is working. It was
noted that Route 6A sewer pipes are about to be put in and that might be a perfect time to fix
the pipe now shooting runoff water into Boland's Pond. At Mill Pond, there seems to be
erosion at the nearby beach area from runoff. At Meetinghouse Pond,there was a bubble-up
event due to a burst pipe. And, issues at Uncle Harvey's Pond have not been addressed.
7 Annual Election of Committee officers
There was a general discussion of the desirability of term limits versus continuity of officers on
Town boards and committees. Also, the large workload on our Committee Chair was
acknowledged and members want the Chair to get more help with it, perhaps from Town
officials or maybe from member volunteers. With this in mind, Carolyn was nominated
(motion by Ed, second by Judy) and elected by a 6-0-1 (Carolyn abstaining) vote. Lara was
nominated to be Vice-Chair (Betsy,Judith) and Judy was also nominated (Carol, Ed). Judy was
elected to the position by a 4- 3 vote. Lara was nominated (Carolyn,Judy) for the Clerk job
and was elected by a 6-0-1 (Lara abstaining) vote.
8 Annual Election of Dredge Committee Representative
Betsy has been our representative at the Dredge Committee meetings for the past year and
was re-nominated (Judith, Lara)to continue this year. Lara was nominated (Judith, Betsy)to
be alternate representative and both were elected by separate 7-0-0 votes.
9 Plans/topics for new fiscal year
Carolyn was asked to make a list of the duties, aka, a job description, that she performs as
Committee Chair. Lara suggested that we could do more with public education and maybe
invite speakers to generate some interest. Carolyn mentioned a brochure, "Renters Guide
to...." that was written by Larry Minear as a Committee member. More need to be circulated
around town to realtors, Chamber of Commerce. etc. Lara suggested the Health Department
should step up providing information to the public on the health hazards of the blooming
blue-green algae in our ponds.
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10 Public Speak
Charles from the Eastham spoke on Eastham's work with Solitude in developing plans for the
Management of Ministers and Schoolhouse Ponds.The steps proposed are aquatic plant
removal (harvest, not destroy), aeration, alum treatment and a bio-filter treatment in
conjunction with the state Dept. of Transportation for stormwater runoff treatment from
Route 6.
Walter North of the Conservation Commission suggested that our Committee needs better
integration with the other "water" people in Town.
At noon, Carolyn moved for adjournment, seconded by Betsy. The motion carried (7,0,0)
Respectfully submitted by:
Ed Hafner, Acting Clerk
Documents stored at the Planning Department:
1 Handout from Carolyn Kennedy: Nauset Estuary/Cape Cod Bay Samples-draft worksheet-DO Field
Measurements. Data from 2019 and,for comparison, data from 2018,4 pages each.
2. 3 Page informational handout promoting Shell Day (Aug 22) activities entitled, Monitoring Blitz for
Coastal Acidification.
3. 2 Page reprint of August 13, 2019 article in the Cape Cod Times entitled "A Blooming Problem,"
describing the ill-effects of cyanobacteria in ponds.
4. Reprint from the August 16, 2019, Cape Codder newspaper: Legal notice from Town of Orleans,
Request for Proposals Fresh Water Pond Remediation Consultant
5. Copy of an "Environment" column by Jon Nazca (Reuters file) entitled, "Octopuses may go blind as
climate change pulls oxygen from the ocean."
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