On Tuesday, August 19, at 7 PM, at the Cotuit Federated Church’s Hamilton Hall, the Cotuit Santuit Civic Association and the Cotuit Fire District Board of Water Commissioners will host (as part of the civic association’s annual meeting) a panel discussion with five experts on the topic of wastewater management in Cotuit.
Last spring the board of water commissioners asked the civic association to convene the forum to build awareness of the issues, technologies, and deadlines surrounding the complex topic of wastewater management.
The panelists are:
- Zenas “Zee” Crocker, Executive Director of the Barnstable Clean Water Coalition and a member of the Town of Barnstable Comprehensive Wastewater Management Plan Ad Hoc Committee
- Scott Horsley, Cotuit Fire District Water Commissioner and Chair of the CWMP Ad Hoc Committee
- Anastasia Rudenko, water resources engineer at the civil engineering firm GHD
- Rob Steen, Assistant Director of the Town of Barnstable Department of Public Works
- Sara Wigginton, deputy director of the wastewater division and program manager at the Massachusetts Alternative Septic System Test Center
We hope to answer questions such as:
- What is driving the issue of wastewater treatment?
- How will the changes made in 2022 by the state department of environmental protection to the Title 5 septic regulations affect Barnstable and Cotuit?
- Where does Cotuit stand in the town’s Comprehensive Wastewater Management Plan?
- Is Cotuit ever likely to see a municipal sewer system?
- What are the available options, benefits, drawbacks, and costs of: sewer, I/A septic systems, satellite or “cluster” wastewater treatment, urine diversion, composting toilets or other solutions?
- Which of these options will protecting the drinking water supply; reduce nutrient contamination of the estuaries and ponds?
- What are some short term solutions for wastewater pollution? What actions can we take now to reduce contamination?