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RESEARCH FOR NUTRIENT SOLUTIONS ON CAPE COD SERIES
Citation:
Chintala, Marty, M. Mazzotta, K. Mulvaney, N. Merrill, D. Martin, T. Hill, S. Ayvazian, Jim Lake, C. Wigand, AND W. Berry. RESEARCH FOR NUTRIENT SOLUTIONS ON CAPE COD SERIES. U.S. EPA Office of Research and Development, Washington, DC, EPA/600/F-18/051, 2018.
Impact/Purpose:
These one page research summaries are intended to provide the public with a brief introduction of our research to understand the impacts of excess nutrients on water quality and people's use of waters on Cape Cod. These sheets document the overall research purpose and the interconnecting pieces of social and ecological sciences.
Description:
Excess nitrogen causes the quality of estuary waters to decrease and impacts the ability of people to use those waters. Because of a lawsuit, towns on Cape Cod are required to address the excess nitrogen that flows into the Cape’s estuaries. These towns are examining both traditional (waste water treatment facilities) and alternative (i.e., permeable reactive barriers, wetland restoration, shellfish aquaculture) technologies to remove excess nitrogen. Research is needed to understand the effectiveness of the different technologies for removing excess nitrogen and the social and economic benefits of the technologies. The purpose of the research is: to determine the effectiveness of some of the alternative technologies for removing nitrogen from Cape Cod’s waters, to determine barriers and opportunities for acceptance of some of the alternative technologies, to compare the ecological, economic and social benefits and barriers of some of the alternative technologies for removing nitrogen, and to assist the Cape’s communities with evaluating the benefits and tradeoffs of implementing different nitrogen removal technologies. Cape Cod has a tourism-based economy that also supports a community of year-round and seasonal residents. All of these individuals will be affected by a loss or an increase in the ability to use the waters of the Cape. They also will be impacted by the costs and benefits of implementing the different technologies for nitrogen removal. Many other coastal locations are dealing with similar issues, and lessons learned here can be applied to other communities who have to make similar decisions for their residents.