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Town of Brewster
2198 MAIN STREET
BREWSTER, MASSACHUSETTS 026314898
PHONE: 508.896.3701 EXT. 1120
FAX: 508.896.4538
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Board of Health Meeting
Wednesday, July 20, 2022 at 7:OOPM
Hybrid Meeting
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Health Department
Amy L. von Hone,
Director
Sherrie McCullough, R.S.
Assistant Director
Tammi Mason
Senior Department Assistant
Board members attending: Annette Graczewski, MT (ASPC), Chair; Kimberley Crocker Pearson, MS, MD, MPH, Vice Chair and Dave
Bennett
Board members absent: Penny Holeman, MPH, MA, MS
Others attending: Amy von Hone, R.S., C.H.O., Health Director and Tammi Mason, Senior Department Assistant
Others attending remotely: Chris Miller, Natural Resources Director
1. Call to Order
Meeting was called to order at 7:OOPM
2. Chair announcements
On July 13, 2022, the State Department of Public health announced the first incidence of West Nile Virus (WNV) detected in mosquitoes
in Bristol County Massachusetts. As of that date, no incidence of human or animal cases of West Nile virus or Eastern Equine
Encephalitis (EEE) had been reported in Massachusetts. However, this is the time of year when we do expect to see WNV in mosquitoes
and it is recommended that the public take steps to protect themselves by avoiding mosquito bites especially individuals over the age of
50 who are at higher risk for disease. Precautions include avoiding outdoor activities during peak mosquito hours at dusk and dawn,
applying insect repellent and wearing long sleeve shirts, long pants, and socks when outdoors. In addition, the public should take care
to drain standing water around their homes and install or repair screens on their windows. More information regarding WNV and EEE
can be found on the State's Arbovirus Surveillance Information web page at www.mass..qov/mosquito-bornemdiseases
The Brewster Police Department will be hosting a blood drive tomorrow, July 21st from 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM at the Brewster Police
Department, 631 Harwich Road in Brewster. Appointments are required. You can make an appointment by calling 508-862-5663 or
online www.capecodhealth.org//ggive-blood
The Brewster Health Department has noted an increase in COVID cases in Brewster consistent with trending increases on the Cape and
across the State. The increase may be attributable to increased travel during the holiday/vacation season and/or possibly the relaxation
or absence of mask mandates nationally and internationally. Though the current variants appear to be resulting in milder symptoms,
they are highly infectious. At home COVID tests are still available through the Brewster Health Department. In addition, if you require
PCR testing, you may schedule a test at Cape Cod Hospital by calling 508-534-7103 or Outer Cape Health Services at 508-905-2888.
3. Citizen's forum
None.
4. Discussion on Pleasant Bay Watershed Permit with Chris Miller, Director of Natural Resources
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AG -We are fortunate this evening to have Chris Miller, Director of Natural Resources Department with us. Following up on Mr. Bennett's
request to have the Board become more familiar with the permit process, I reached out to Mr. Miller and asked that he join us to provide
us with some of the history of the project as well as progress to date.
CM shared slides from Horsley Witten Group that were part of a previous presentation to the Selectboard. He gave Mrs. von Hone a
copy of the slide presentation in case anyone wanted a copy.
CM stated that the Town is looking at a lot of different water quality issues. Tonight's focus will be on managing the nutrient issues that
are affecting our saltwater estuaries, in particular, the Pleasant Bay Estuary. Brewster has a large number of their drinking water supply
wells out on the Pleasant Bay Watershed, the rest of them are further out to the west in the Punkhorn area.
According to the State, the Town has to address the coastal water sheds. Pleasant Bay is to the east side and the town has about 40ft of
shoreline right on the edge of Pleasant Bay. The Town has a larger proportion of the watershed. There are 4 other Town's that
contribute water to Pleasant Bay and have to deal with the issues there.
CM continued to speak about the other coastal estuaries that Brewster has to deal with. Little Namskaket and Namskaket are on the
Orleans border The Massachusetts Estuaries Project did review this and found that the estuary is in good shape and can accept
additional nitrogen before it becomes an issue. Cape Cod Bay is also in good shape. Further to the west is Stony Brook and Quivet
Creek watersheds. MEP did do an evaluation of Quivet Creek and again, it can absorb more nitrogen before it would be an impaired
situation. Going west going into Dennis, you have Bass River Watershed which we do have a portion of that in town, but Brewster is
fortunate in that it's an area that was recently purchased and is protected open space, so there's very little development in the Bass
River Watershed. Same with Swan Pond, which barely touches the town. We are hopeful that we don't have any real obligations to
reduce nitrogen in those 2 watersheds. To the South, we do have the Herring River Watershed and I believe at this point we have a very
small percentage of nitrogen going into the herring river based on the amount of open space we have in areas like the Punkhorn,
Bacl< in 2009 we started the Town's Comprehensive Water Planning Committee, and we did a series of management plan reports. The
first phase was done in 2011 and phase 2 in 2012 and then we started to do more of an assessment on what we need to do in Pleasant
Bay and came up the report in 2015.
This is when we got into the implementation phase. The BOH worked on a Water Resource Atlas around Brewster's freshwater ponds it
shows some of the buffer zones the surface water aquifer as well as the groundwater aquifer and direction of groundwater flow around
each of our freshwater bodies. At this time the Town came into the 2018 pleasant Bay Watershed Permit which we have a
intermunicipal agreement with the 4 other towns that provide water to Pleasant Bay. Set in that permit is the percentages of the
watershed that Brewster controls and the nitrogen inputs that are going in from Brewster.
There has also been work done with the golf course to see how nitrogen can be reduced there. They have reduced the amount of
fertilizer they put down. The Town has also done a leaching rate study. Another thing Brewster has done in the implementation phase is
actively manage the ponds. The Town is really focusing on Pleasant Bay nitrogen management to comply with our watershed permit,
which is a 20- year permit with a series of things that need to be done over the 20- year period. The Town is also focusing on other
waterbodies, not just Pleasant Bay. We have 25% of the total watershed but are only responsible for 13% of the load to the watershed.
CM showed a picture which shows the sub watersheds that make up the whole watershed running into present day and each one of
those has its own requirements for reduction in nutrients. According to the permit from 2018, it requires us to remove 2200 kilograms
of nitrogen a year and address our future development. The Town has already moved about 56% of this load through changes in
fertilizer practices at Captains Golf Course.
CM went on to explain several other issues with nitrogen and these areas including potentially a neighborhood Wastewater Treatment
Plant (WWTP), I/A systems and nitrogen trading.
AG -questioned CM about the Watershed permit and I/A technology.
DB -talked about the Watershed permit and UA
technology with respect to the nitrogen removal and nutrient reducing septic systems.
KCP- talked about the Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) calculation and stated she was trying to understand if there was any place in it
where you account for internal or trophic loading, for example nitrogen that's being fixed within the environment itself.
CM- The Mass Estuaries Project looked at all those type of things as they went through and they developed a model that looks at a lot of
the different things that are happening, so they took into effect things like the estuaries that are between the fresh water source and the
waterbody where the TMDL is present.
DB -asked CM about the current permit and the special conditions and whether it would be accepted under the new regulations.
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CM- every year the Town issues an update report to the State and we have modified what we've been doing throughout and have been
taking credits.
DB- asked CM if the Town was participating in the monitoring program and if Brewster was paying for it. CM- The monitoring program
is being done by the Pleasant Bay Alliance and the lab in Chatham is mostly the one they're using. The Town has also done quite a bit of
testing and modification to the model through some Southeast New England Program (SNEP) grants. Brewster has an assessment to
the Present Bay Alliance and part of that is for the testing under this watershed permit.
DB- asked if the Town was seeing reductions from the golf course. CM -the time of travel of the water that's coming from septic
systems in town or from the golf course is extremely long so we're not going to see any changes for the watershed for many years after
any changes in treatment or changes in fertilizer.
AG -asked if CM could explain about 208 Plan.
CM- Section 208 of the EPA Clean Water Act is a requirement to address degraded water. Cape Cod did a 208 plan a number of years
ago before the estuaries and came up with a lot of recommendations and at the same time we came up with the first Water Shed Permit
which we've been discussing and killed compliance with the 208 Plan. Brewster's a little different than many towns in that we don't have
a formal wastewater treatment study because we never proposed to do things that would require permits. The things that we're doing
with fertilizer management with innovative alternative systems, purchasing land, those kinds of activities don't raise the level where you
need a permit. We have we have had our plan judged as consistent with the 208 Plan by the Cape Cod Commission.
AVH- asked CM for clarification on what the role of the Cape Cod Commission is related to the 208 Plan.
CM- I think the Cape Cod Commission worked with the county, so they were the regulatory body that ran the program so because we
have Barnstable County that covers the Cape, they defer some things for that so the 208 Plan was run through the county using the
Cape Cod Commission as the parent organization to do that. I'm not sure what the regulatory authority officially is, I know it was under
Section 208 and I think it was originally brought on by a lawsuit that was against the Barnstable County.
DB- asked CM why the Town wasn't looking a grant money for small wastewater treatment plants (example: Thousand Oaks area.
CM- That's certainly been a topic of discussion over the last year, we're trying to see what we can use those different funds that have
been established for. Initially and under the 208 Plan, they pushed us to consider the cheapest overall costs, which really focused a lot
of the towns on these innovative systems, either alternative septic systems or shellfish or other means to save an awful lot of money
because of the huge cost to treat the estuaries and to bring back the water quality. There's been a lot of discussions at the Select Board
meetings and with the Town Administrator as well as with others. I'm not sure where they stand so I'm not ready to report to you which
funds we could use for what. I think the idea is to certainly apply for planning money to develop a wastewater treatment plant for one of
those neighborhoods if that's the decision we make to move forward, and you know if we could use those tax dollars versus raising or
appropriating at town meeting, I think everybody would be very happy.
DB- I think we need to find a project that will use those funds to advance our Comprehensive Wastewater Permit and satisfy the DEP's
requirements. I really do not want to put the burden on solving the wastewater problem on individual homeowners when I think that it's
really a community need of all the taxpayers. Making somebody put in a $30,000 I/A system with quarterly testing just kind of seems
misguided.
CM- tonight's focus was on the Pleasant Bay Watershed where a package treatment plant might make sense up in the upper reaches,
but if we were to do that treatment the water that we're treating up there would probably have a 30 -year time of travel before it helps
improve the watershed of Pleasant Bay. The bigger question that they've been discussing with these different funds, is whether we can
use those type of alternative systems to treat our water quality issues in other parts of town, because we know that Pleasant Bay we've
got mostly handled by the Captains course. It's not the only water quality issue we have in town. We have tremendous freshwater
bodies, many of them are starting to show impairment, and I think if we are restricted to using traditional sewering the costs are going to
be astronomical just because of the development patterns in town.
AVH- spoke about a CCC study to see how different types of projects are going to fit into the tier structure of the different funding
mechanisms to essentially better our chances of getting funding depending on the type of project we ultimately go with.
5. Update by Health Director on DEP meeting with Brewster staff regarding proposed Title 5 revisions
AVH —stated that she did previously talk a little bit about what the proposed changes were that are coming down from DEP with regards
to Title 5 revisions and that is any of our estuaries that have an established TMDL are going to need to be under an approved DEP
Watershed Permit that would be for a 20 -year period. This is something new that DEP is establishing. If we don't have an approved
Watershed Permit through DEP, then any septic system within that specific watershed will need to be upgraded with an I/A technology
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system within the next five years starting from the date of the promulgation of the new Title 5 revisions. Brewster has two watersheds
that we need to be concerned about, Pleasant Bay and Herring River. DEP is meeting with all the towns across the Cape to discuss
these proposed revisions and explain where they are at. Their primary purpose is to get feedback from all the towns in addition to any of
the different entities that they're also meeting with, so they can take all these pieces of information and incorporate into the ultimate
regulation that they're going to be establishing for title 5 and the new watershed permits. DEP obviously is concerned about the time
frame with our efforts to clean up these estuaries that are impaired because of excess nitrogen, and they are anticipating and hoping
that this change in title 5 regulations will help instigate a quicker response to what needs to be done. All the towns across the Cape are
at different points of their wastewater planning. I think the takeaway was DEP is there to advocate for us as needed, they are listening
for the next couple of months to get our feedback on concerns, questions, problems that we see with the proposed regulations that
they're going to be putting into place. DEP mentioned that one of the biggest hang ups for us here in Brewster, because of the route
that we're leaning towards with I/A systems is the funding sources that haven't been available to us. DEP stated that they were here to
help advocate for us on that end of things too. The big push is, do whatever you can do to get a watershed permit in place. DEP's time
frame is, comments through the summer, draft of the Title 5 revisions and the watershed permit process this fall with the goal of
promulgation early winter. It is coming down quickly. The impact to us is, if we don't get something in place as far as this 20 -year
Watershed Permit then we're looking at a lot of I/A's that are going to need to be installed. The big concern for me is the availability of
I/A's that are going to do the job that they need to do for us to get down to the TMDL's that have been set for the two estuaries that we
have and then oversight. I have a small department and I don't have staffing levels that we would need and even just on the private
sector of things we don't have enough contractors, engineers, and consultants to handle that level of increase in I/A installations that we
need to happen.
AG- asked about the part of the draft regulation that says, "for natural resource areas, unless a community is subject to a Watershed
Permit, any system serving new construction, or an existing facility must incorporate best available nitrogen reducing technology". Is
there a definition for best available?
AVH- There are a lot of things up in the air still.
There was more discussion about the use of UA systems, the time it would take for their approval, etc.
DB- asked AVH about her comment that states, "DEP will provide guidance for the development of a new 20 -year Watershed Permit".
He stated that it sounded like DEP isn't accepting our existing permit and if she knew when DEP would let the Town know if the current
permit was working or not.
AVH-stated she did not know the timeline.
6. Liaison Reports
AG- The Recycling Commission met last week. They will be having a "Fix -It" clinic in August. It is to partner individuals in Town who
could act as a coach or expert with residents who need help repairing things. Anyone that wants to sign up to help can go to
Brewster.recyclinq(@gmailacom, or to sign up for the clinic go to fixitclinic.blogspot.com. The clinic is being held in conjunction with the
Brewster Ladies Library and will be held at the library.
7. Matters not reasonably anticipated by the Chair
KCP- asked if anyone was looking at the new variants of COVID that we are experiencing an uptick in right now.
AVH and AG stated that the news reports 2 new variants that are not as bad as the original.
8. Items for next agenda
None
9. Next meeting: August 3, 2022
Noted.
DB- asked that Board members look at the I/A system reports that are coming in the information packets.
Informational items were noted
Meeting adjourned at 8:20PM
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