Save Crocker Pond
Letter from the Association for Crocker Pond to the Cape Cod Commission
Re: Falmouth Comprehensive Wastewater Management Plan
> Read more
Letter from the Association for Crocker Pond to the MEPA Office
Re: DEIR EOEEA # 14154-Falmouth Comprehensive Wastewater Management Plan
> Read more
Town Posts latest draft of CWMP
Dear Friends of Crocker's Pond,
The town has posted the latest draft CWMP which includes their revisions, responses and re-assessments in light of all the comments that were made regarding the previous draft. The committee did include more information on Crocker's Pond which is not a difficult task for them since they included no information on it before. Please familiarize yourself with any and all parts of this huge document. It's difficult at first to understand the organization of the document but keep at it. I included a few key links below but you can get to any part of the document through the home page below.
It looks like they want to move ahead with using site 7.
Water Quality Management Committee Home Page
Table of Contents for draft CWMP
Appendices in case you want to see a chart that they mention elsewhere
Cover letter and Volumes 1 and 2
On Crocker Pond—West Falmouth Neighbors Worry About Pollution
Cape Cod Wave - By Laura M. Reckford
On a recent Friday morning, an osprey swooped low over Crocker Pond in West Falmouth but then angled back up. No fish to be seen.
“They’re not awake yet,” said Mary Bunker Ryther, 50, who grew up on Crocker Pond and now lives just a quarter mile up the road in North Falmouth.
Her Norwich terrier Rogue positioned himself on the edge of the Bunker family dock and looked intently into the water, willing a fish to squiggle to the surface.
Nothing yet. Just clear water all the way to the bottom.
The pond off West Falmouth Highway (Route 28A) at the intersection of Thomas B. Landers Road is bound by the Bunker property taking up most of one side and Bourne Farm taking up most of the other. It is a serene place.
Ryther knows there are fish in the pond, always have been for the more than 65 years her family has lived next to it.
But she is concerned about the future and whether the abundant wildlife in and around the pond will be there for her grandchildren and their children. > Read more
Article 40 passed with an ammendment
Dear friends of Crocker's Pond,
As many of you already know Article 40 went before town meeting on Wednesday the 14th and passed with an amendment. (Click here to view the video of the presentation; the discussion began 70 minutes into the video so slide the progress bar ahead to 70.)
The amendment changed the language of the last sentence. This would , theoretically allow Falmouth to completely develop site 7 and 10 before completing and discussing studies. So it is up to Falmouth residents and concerned citizens to carefully follow this project so mistakes aren't made that would waste our tax dollars or ruin the health of West Falmouth's surface waters. Remember what happened to West Falmouth Harbor.
November 8th Precinct 5/6 meeting
Interested individuals are welcome to attend the November 8th Precinct 5/6 meeting in North Falmouth at the North Falmouth Elementary School. This is the meeting where citizens can express their thoughts about Town Meeting Articles before Town Meeting which starts on Tuesday, November 13 at 7 PM.
Water Quality Management Committee
Workshop Meeting
Meeting: Monday, November 5, 2012 9:00 AM
At the Falmouth Public Library, Hermann Room
The Agenda for the workshop is:
Presentation and discussion with the engineering consultant, GHD of options for sewer collection systems for the Lower Little Pond Watershed.
WFVA Letter to the Editor
The West Falmouth Village Association has voted to support Article 40 which appears before town meeting in November. We urge that citizens carefully scrutinize Falmouth's plan to expand sewering and increase wastewater discharge into West Falmouth's groundwater.
Site 7 is a mere 400 yards from Crockers Pond where Bourne's Farm is in West Falmouth. Crocker pond was overlooked in the Town's cursory study of this area yet the town plans to ask citizens for millions of dollars to begin design and other work on the sewer system during Spring Town Meeting in 2013. The 2 discharge sites at Thomas Landers Rd. are the planned destination for up to, and possibly more than, 1.6 million gallons per day. This will impact all the fresh water bodies from Crocker Pond north to Wing’s Pond including Herring Creek and possibly south to West Falmouth Harbor. Crocker Pond currently is one of Falmouth’s cleaner ponds with a relatively healthy ecosystem. Read more >
Buzzards Bay Coalition letter to
Richard Sullivan, Jr., Secretary
Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs
October 24, 2012
RE: Draft Comprehensive Wastewater Management Plan and Draft Environmental Impact Report, and Notice of Project Change: Little Pond, Great Pond, Green Pond, Bournes Pond, Eel Pond, and Waquoit Bay Watersheds and Recommendations for West Falmouth Harbor Watershed
Dear Secretary Sullivan,
The Buzzards Bay Coalition (Coalition) has received the Draft Comprehensive Wastewater Management Plan (DCWMP) and Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR), and Notice of Project Change (NPC) for the watersheds of Little Pond, Great Pond, Green Pond, Bournes Pond, Eel Pond, and Waquoit Bay, which includes recommendations for the West Falmouth Harbor Watershed. The DCWMP/DEIR outlines a strategy for wastewater management for the watersheds of Falmouth's South Coast Ponds over a 20-year period (2015- 2035). In nitrogen pollution, the Town faces a serious issue that will threaten Falmouth's economy as well as its environment if left alone. The DCWMP/DEIR is an important tool for the Town of Falmouth to determine how it will meet current and future Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs), which will require significant nutrient reductions in order to restore Falmouth's coastal waters. Read more >
Cape Cod Commision Staff Report
September 28, 2012
TO: Falmouth South Coast Watersheds DCWMP/DEIR/NPC Subcommittee
PROJECT: Draft Comprehensive Wastewater Management Plan (DCWMP), Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR), and
Notice of Project Change (NPC) Falmouth South Coast Watersheds and Recommendations for West Falmouth Harbor Watershed.
INTRODUCTION:
The Cape Cod Commission (Commission) has received a Draft Comprehensive Wastewater
Management Plan (DCWMP), Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR), and Notice of Project Change (NPC) from the Town of Falmouth (Applicant). The DCWMP/DEIR for Little
Pond, Great Pond, Green Pond, Bournes Pond, Eel Pond, and Waquoit Bay Watersheds (South Coast Watersheds) and Recommendations for West Falmouth Harbor (WFH) Watershed was
noticed in the September 5, 2012 Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act (MEPA) Environmental Monitor. Read more >
Letter of Concern
re: Crocker Pond in West Falmouth
Before Selectmen tonight, September 17, is Andrew Bunker's issue about why Crocker Pond in West Falmouth next to Bourne Farm has not been studied.
He will present to the selectmen tonight a petition article at 8:30-8:35. Here's what he will say:
This petition article's main concern is Crocker Pond in West Falmouth. It's the pond at what I will call the epicenter of Falmouth's plans to sewer other parts of Falmouth. Most people don't know Crocker Pond or if they do know the Pond don't know the name of it. It is the Pond next to Bournes Farm on 28A in West Falmouth at the junction of Thomas Landers Rd. It is where Pumpkin Day is held each October.
The reason for the concern is that the town hopes to dishcarge wastewater 400 yds uphill from the pond.The CWMP that is now at the state for review and the Technical Memorandum 9 which provides a preliminary anaysis. Both documents appear to largely over look the presence of Crocker Pond. Numbers and analysis are provided for Wings Pond, Herring Creek, the marsh at Old Silver Beach, and Buzzards Bay. But there is no mention of Crocker Pond which will receive a large portion of the nearly 1 million gallons per day of wastewater effluent from site 7 and 10. Read more >
