2023 Public Forum
2023 Public Forum
On June 13, 2023, the Southeast New England Program (SNEP) at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in Region 1 (New England) was pleased to welcome over one-hundred attendees throughout the region to our 2023 Public Forum. The goals of the Forum were to engage with our community members and program partners, share information gained collectively by SNEP and our partners, and to seek input on the work that our Program has completed, the work ongoing, and the work still to be done.
Forum Memo and Executive Summary (pdf)
This memo summarizes the primary feedback received during the Forum. Key recommendations are summarized below and provided in more detail in the Breakout Session Summary section.
Forum Purpose
The Southeast New England Program (SNEP) Strategic Plan identifies three priority goals: safe and healthy waters, thriving watersheds and natural lands, and sustainable communities. Because our cities and towns face unprecedented climatic and economic disruptions, this Forum seeks input on how SNEP and its partners can best help to meet local needs while also building the framework for more effective approaches to address today's environmental, social, and economic challenges. SNEP will incorporate the results of the Forum’s discussions into our funding and policy strategies for the next several years.
Discussion Sessions:
Forum participants engaged in focused discussions across three 60-minute sessions. During each moderated discussion, Forum participants were encouraged to provide their input on a wide range of regional challenges. For each discussion, participants were asked to consider and provide input on the following questions as it related to each discussion topic:
- What is SNEP doing well?
- How can SNEP better work with you or your organization? Benefit you or your organization, or integrate your work?
- What could SNEP improve upon or do differently?
- Where do you see regional gaps in information, funding, etc. that SNEP could fill?
- What do you think SNEP should do?
Notetakers were provided for each discussion.
Agenda
Main Room – Region Administrator David W. Cash
Keynote Speaker: Dr. Christopher Obropta, Rutgers University; Engaging Diverse Communities in Green Infrastructure Planning, Design, and Construction
| Sessions | Room 1 | Room 2 | Room 3 | Room 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Session 1 | Increasing Public-Private Partnerships | Elizabeth Scott, Elizabeth Scott Consulting | Understanding the SNEP Region Through Existing Data | Tim Pasakarnis, Cape Cod Commission | Keeping Track of Funding Opportunities | Tom Ardito, Restore America’s Estuaries | Better Addressing the Unique Needs of SNEP's Communities! | Kimberly Groff Consulting & Phaeng Southisombath, SNEP Network |
| Session 2 | Improving/Tweaking the Existing Structure of SNEP | Ian Dombroski, U.S. EPA Region 1 | Communicating Project Successes in The SNEP Region | Bryce DuBois, College of the Holy Cross | Scaling Up from Pilot to Progress | Marcel Belaval, USGS & Adam Reilly, U.S. EPA Region 1 | Coordinating Among Technical Assistance Entities | Phaeng Southisombath & Martha Sheils, SNEP Network & Matthew Stamas, U.S. EPA, Region 1 |
| Session 3 | Increased Engagement with Academic Institutions | Adam Reilly, U.S. EPA & Tim Pasakarnis, Cape Cod Commission & Bryce DuBois, College of the Holy Cross | Community-led Project Design, Learning, and Engagement | Tom Ardito, Restore America’s Estuaries | How can SNEP better meet its habitat goals? | Mary Schoell, Narragansett Bay NERRS & Haley Miller and Margherita Pryor, U.S. EPA, Region 1 | -Intentionally left blank- |
Main Room: Report Out, Next Steps, and Group Discussion
Slides
- Main Room Run of Show (pptx)
- Session 1
- Increasing Public-Private Partnerships (pptx)
- Understanding the SNEP Region Through Existing Data (pptx)
- Keeping Track of Funding Opportunities (pptx)
- Better Addressing the Unique Needs of Communities (no slides)
- Session 2
- Improving/Tweaking the Existing Structure of SNEP (pptx)
- Communicating Project Success in the SNEP Region (pptx)
- Scaling Up from Pilot to Progress (pptx)
- Coordinating Among Technical Assistance Entities (no slides)
- Session 3
Recordings and Transcripts
Poster Presenters:
All posters can be accessed here
Broad Meadow Brook is a headwater tributary to the Blackstone River. These headwaters, within the urban setting of southeast Worcester, are subject to myriad stresses from chronic flooding, stormwater runoff, water quality impairments, and invasive species. The City of Worcester's Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness Plan notes the neighborhood adjacent to the brook faces recurrent flooding issues, predicted to worsen with climate change. The northern section of the project site contains a 2500-foot-long causeway that bisects the 40-acre wetland complex and serves as the brook's eastern bank. The causeway, which contains a section of forced sewer line recently decommissioned by the City, prevents hydrological and physical connection across the wetland and meandering of the brook across its floodplain. The eastern wetland is dominated by invasive Phragmites. In the southern section, a 500-foot-long stone box culvert constrains the brook, inhibiting riparian connection. This project seeks to improve ecological functions and social benefits, including flood storage, floodplain connection, wetland habitat enhancement in a rare urban open space, and water quality improvement. Restoring the site will enhance valuable recreational and educational opportunities for neighboring Environmental Justice communities. This project increases local capacity for watershed solutions by partnering with the City of Worcester and others to demonstrate urban restoration methods across the region.
As is the case in many coastal communities around the globe, the majority of households along the southern Rhode Island coast rely on local groundwater to drink, and onsite wastewater treatment system (OWTS, i.e., septic systems) to treat the wastewater they generate. In addition, the nearby coastal waters, both the Atlantic Ocean and tidally connected coastal salt ponds, are major drivers of the local economy. A partnership led by the Town of Charlestown (RI), supported by URI's Onsite Wastewater Resource Center, Salt Ponds Coalition and Save the Bay is leveraging SNEP funding to implement a five-year pilot watershed management program to protect Greater Allen's Cove (part of Green Hill Pond) and eastern reaches of Ninigret Pond from nutrient pollution. The project has a multi-faceted approach, including OWTS upgrades and performance monitoring, installing stormwater management structures and training stakeholders in responsible residential fertilizer management techniques, as well as community engagement to protect and improve the quality of local groundwater and nearby coastal ponds. Here we share (1) the project's goals, approaches, and provide updates on accomplishments to date, (2) the results of our project team's efforts to sample and analyze the performance of several N-reducing OWTS technologies, and (3) activities and events planned for the remaining three years of this project. Our team is excited to share our lessons learned so far and connect with other SNEP Network members to for inspiration, suggestions and advice related to recruiting additional project partners, as well as effective community engagement approaches designed to spark local residents to coalesce and implement practices that will protect their local water resources.
In December 2013 EPA announced a framework for implementing the Clean Water Act Section 303(d) program with states implementing a water-quality based approach to improve impaired waters through a process of identification, determination of pollutant reduction requirements, development of total maximum daily load (TMDLs), restoration plans, and monitoring. TMDLs represent the implementation by EPA of a dynamic or load based standard versus a target concentration standard to achieve water quality goals. TMDLs are a summation of the sum of wasteload allocations (point sources), load allocations (nonpoint sources and background), and margin of safety (MOS).
The cost to bring Cape Cod communities in compliance entirely through traditional wastewater treatment and sewering has been estimated to be $4.6 to $6.2 billion. To reduce the eventual overall cost, the Cape Cod 208 Water Quality Management Plan recommends traditional wastewater treatment combined with non-traditional technologies for reducing nitrate mass flux to coastal waters. Denitrification permeable reactive barriers (PRBs) are one of the primary non-traditional technologies, that can provide cost effective nitrate reduction for many years. The installation of PRBs with combined lengths of thousands of linear feet are being considered in numerous Cape Cod municipalities to provide nearly immediate (~ 1 year) reductions in nitrogen mass loading. Since the denitrification PRB does not need to be designed to meet a target concentration, it can be located surgically in the highest contributary areas to treat the highest nitrogen load or flux, reducing the overall size and cost of the PRB versus one scaled to remove all the nitrogen.
An engineering design manual and spreadsheet tool for denitrification PRBs was prepared with support of a SNEP Watershed Grant to assist communities to cost effectively consider, plan, design, implement, and monitor denitrification PRBs to address nitrogen in groundwater. Key PRB design parameters will be presented on the poster. Copies of the manual will be available upon request.
Like many communities in the northeastern USA, the Town of Charlestown (RI) relies heavily on onsite wastewater treatment systems (OWTS) to manage residential and commercial wastewater and on groundwater as a potable water source. Charlestown is also a coastal community situated on three coastal salt ponds along the south shore of RI. The town's highest densities of OWTS are located within proximity to these ponds, with some areas exceeding 10 OWTS/ac. Further, the town's economy is primarily based on the coastal zone where tourism, recreation, and coastal businesses thrive.
OWTS can be an effective method of managing wastewater in the absence of a sewer system by treating and recycling wastewater onsite. Yet, even in the best circumstances, not all pollutants are removed during wastewater treatment. Conventional septic systems are typically effective at removing bacteria and pathogens; however, the pollutant nitrogen (N) remains at elevated concentrations in septic effluent plumes from older conventional and substandard systems and is problematic for both human health and surface water resources.
Models indicate nearly 80% of groundwater N concentrations in these densely developed coastal areas originate from OWTS effluent, where over 70% of OWTS still utilize older conventional and substandard OWTS technologies. We have correlated a statistically significant relationship of groundwater N concentrations to the density of OWTS and determined that the mean groundwater N concentration in our coastal zone is above 3mg/L, indicative of high risk for source water pollution.
As part of a SNEP funded Pilot Watershed program, we have calculated N mass loading by OWTS type, quantified that loading on a watershed scale, identified hot spots, determined risk to groundwater quality, and developed a transferable method to manage funding for upgrades of older, substandard OWTS to modern N reducing technology to incrementally reduce N loading and maximize cumulative benefits to the watershed.
Sesachacha Pond Ecological Enhancement and Resilience Strategies on Nantucket, MA – Leah Hill (pptx)
The Town of Nantucket Natural Resources Department, in partnership with Mass Audubon, are working on a project in Sesachacha Pond that is using a combination of nature-based solutions to help improve water quality within the pond, enhance the habitat for the declining wild oyster population while maintain a critical transportation link by dissipating wave energy and erosion associated with storm surge. Sesachacha Pond located in Nantucket, MA is a community resource, is one of the four great ponds administered by the Town for public use and has an oyster population that is substrate limited. This area is heavily used by both locals and tourists and serves as a scenic viewshed and is part of the National Historic Landmarks while serving as an important commercial, recreational, and educational resource. Like most of the Nantucket coast, the pond is subject to high wind and wave energy, erosion, and flooding. Climate change and sea level rise are exacerbating these stressors. In 2018 a severe storm event led to episodic erosion that caused Polpis Road, the roadway that runs along the southwest side of the Pond, to fail. As a result, the road was unpassable for several weeks to allow for emergency repairs, including a concrete jersey barrier wall. Eco-friendly concrete structures called reef balls serve as oyster and fish habitat will be placed within the pond to attenuate waves during storm events, thus reducing erosion along the road. The second part of the project, not funded by SNEP, is to replace the concrete wall with a nature-based solution, such as a living shoreline. This project will enhance ecological and infrastructure connectivity resilience to neighborhoods in the northeast quarter of Nantucket Island and can be transferable to other coastal communities.
Planning a Ghost Gear Removal Program for Rhode Island – Susan Inglis (pdf) (1.5 MB)
Ghost fishing gear in coastal waters is acknowledged as a serious problem having ecological, navigational, and commercial and recreational fishing impacts. Rhode Island is no exception but did not have a cohesive program to identify, remove and dispose of lost fishing gear. This project developed a sustainable plan for removing lost or abandoned fishing gear, ghost gear, from Rhode Island state waters. A successful ghost gear program requires an engaged public and a coordinated stakeholder effort. To increase public awareness of the problem of ghost fishing gear in Rhode Island and why the public should be concerned, we developed an extensive outreach program composed of community meetings and digital educational materials. This project relied on partnerships developed during the preparation of the planning document. We formed an Advisory Group of stakeholders, local and international ghost gear removal experts, and regulatory representatives to assist in developing and implementing this document. To ensure our plan represented a coordinated effort, we met with other ghost gear removal programs to discuss their program start-up procedures and "lessons learned" during the implementation of their programs. A stakeholder's workshop brought regulatory representatives, local and international ghost gear removal experts, and recycling companies together with fishermen to review the draft planning document. The final planning document includes sections on: Identification, Regulation, Training, Removal, Data Collection, Recycle and Disposal, Implementation, and Sustainability. The main metric for the success of this project, beyond the grant period, was implementation of the plan. A small pilot ghost gear removal project was initiated in Narragansett Bay February-March 2023 and approximately 4,000 pounds of ghost gear was successfully removed and recycled. This "living" document was recently updated based on lessons we learned during the removal project.
Cuttyhunk Island Ghost Fishing Gear Removal – Laura Ludwig (pdf)
In April 2023, two dozen volunteers spent a week on Cuttyhunk working with residents to collect, sort, inventory and remove over 15,000 pounds of fishing gear and other plastic debris from approximately one mile of shoreline. High cliffs, boulder-strewn beaches, rough access roads and extensive debris fields made debris removal very challenging.
The project benefited from a Cornell University course created to feature the Center for Coastal Studies (CCS) fishing gear recovery program, normally based in Provincetown but relocated in 2023 to Cuttyhunk thanks to dedicated project funding secured by CCS through Restore America's Estuaries.
The week-long field program encouraged the Cornell students to make a "deep exploration of marine habitat and anthropogenic environmental impact as part of a community-engaged experience." Issues of plastic pollution, animal welfare, acoustics, communication, human nature, commercial fishing and collaboration were among the topics considered by participating students during the week-long residency, and many of them will create capstone projects to fulfill course requirements.
Lobster traps were the primary target of the removal effort. Those that were relatively intact and bearing identification tags were documented as to age, region and owner, and whether there were impacts to wildlife. Data are stored in a CCS database made available to interested parties.
Several artists were also invited to take part in the removal exercises and encouraged to take home debris items that they could use (1,000lbs). The resultant artwork will be exhibited during a public presentation on the project later in 2023.
Two 40-yard containers were filled with the collected debris: wire traps were sent to a scrap metal yard for recycling (6,200lbs); all other debris was sent to a waste-to-energy facility (6,600lbs). Bricks and concrete ballast were removed from wire lobster traps and kept for use on the island (1,950lbs).
Wastewater from septic systems is a critical threat to water quality in coastal communities. Pollution from wastewater impacts both public and environmental health by contaminating groundwater and surface waters. One of the most common pollutants in marine ecosystems is nitrogen, which can impair drinking and coastal waters. Currently, the main solution to the nitrogen problem in coastal communities that rely on septic systems is implementation of expensive, proprietary nitrogen reducing septic systems. In this study, we evaluate the performance of an experimental nitrogen removing system, the layered soil treatment area (LSTA) and compare it to existing proprietary nitrogen reducing systems in the same watershed. Using flow data from each system, we use the concentrations from the wastewater samples we collected to estimate the mass contribution of each contaminant into the environment from septic systems. Based on our findings, LSTA systems provide a comparable alternative to the established nitrogen reducing technologies at a lower cost to the end user. This means that adoption and implementation of this technology offers a real chance to reduce the mass of nitrogen entering coastal watersheds for far less money in portions of the landscape .
Chepachet Village Wastewater Improvements – Karen Scott (pdf)
Overview of the Town of Glocester's Watershed Implementation Grant, which will assess properties within Chepachet Village to explore opportunities to establish reliable wastewater management systems to address surface and drinking water quality issues.
Restoring the Tidal Hydrology of Allens Pond – Wenley Ferguson (pdf)
The Allens Pond salt marshes have experienced marsh degradation due to both past anthropogenic activities such as agricultural berms, stone walls, and ditch spoils and accelerated sea level rise. Mass Audubon in partnership with Save The Bay and Bristol County Mosquito Control Project developed a salt marsh restoration plan which includes digging runnels through existing agricultural berms, maintaining a select number of existing ditches, and controlling invasive species by cutting Phragmites. The goal of the project is restoring the tidal hydrology of the salt marsh platform impacted by legacy human impacts and facilitate marsh migration by removing impediments to migration along the upper edge of the salt marsh to drain impounded water.
Restoring the Environment at the Bristol Golf Course – Edward Tanner
The Town of Bristol has completed a project to restore freshwater wetlands and floodplain at the 26 acre municipally owned Bristol Golf Course property. The golf course was created in the 1960s prior to Town ownership and was not built or maintained as an environmentally sustainable course by today's standards. The goals of this project are to restore freshwater wetlands at the course and improve the water quality of two tributaries that flow into Narragansett Bay; increasing flood storage capacity of the wetlands; and enhancing freshwater wetland habitat. The project included the restoration of several surface water impoundments, removal of historic fill adjacent to wetland areas, daylighting of piped streams, installation of stormwater BMPs, and the restoration planting of native vegetation as buffer areas between wetlands and playable portions of the golf course. The intent is to maintain this property as open space for public recreation and enjoyment, but with improved environmental conditions. To accomplish the goals and intent, the Town has designed a nine-hole public golf course with a smaller active recreation footprint than previously existed; and with a redesigned layout using less land area while still providing public access and desirable public outdoor recreational opportunities.
Overall restoration work was conducted in two phases. Phase I, which was completed in spring 2021, was financed with grant assistance from the USEPA's SNEP Watershed Grants program and from RIDEM's Section 319 water quality grant program. Phase II was completed in spring 2022, with grant funding assistance from a R.I. Infrastructure Bank's Municipal Resilience Program. This project includes a robust public outreach and public engagement component with many committed community stakeholders. The collaboration and multi-functional benefits of this project will serve as a model for other communities with respect to the management of public recreation property while incorporating environmental education and stewardship.
Stormwater Innovation Center – Ryan Kopp (pdf)
Long-term monitoring and evaluation of green infrastructure are important for the sustained functionality and performance of stormwater management projects. It is crucial to assess existing green infrastructure regularly to identify any operational challenges that may require repair, redesign, or reconstruction. Not all stormwater systems perform as intended after implementation, emphasizing the importance of ongoing evaluation.
To actively involve the public in the monitoring and evaluation process, we have developed RainSnap.org, an innovative crowd-sourcing web platform. RainSnap.org serves as a dual-purpose solution, allowing us to gather essential information about green infrastructure performance while engaging and educating the public simultaneously. By encouraging community participation, we foster a shared sense of responsibility and promote a collaborative approach to enhancing stormwater management practices. Through RainSnap.org, community members can contribute valuable data, observations, and feedback, empowering them to actively participate in the monitoring and evaluation of green infrastructure projects.
By prioritizing long-term monitoring, evaluation, and public engagement, we ensure that green infrastructure systems continue to function optimally, effectively mitigating stormwater issues.
Restoring the Wetlands of Silver Creek – Edward Tanner
Invasive water chestnut is a significant issue around the region and in many local water bodies. The aquatic plant multiplies exponentially and forms dense, floating mats of vegetation that overtake surface water. The plant alters aquatic habitat by reducing fish and wildlife foraging, spawning, and nesting areas; outcompeting native plants and jeopardizing biodiversity; and decreasing oxygen concentrations and water quality for fish. Additionally, the invasive ruins recreational fishing, makes boating nearly impossible, and further limits flood storage capacity in channelized urban areas, all of which can have economic consequences. Several waterbodies in the Blackstone and Ten Mile Watersheds are now infested with water chestnut, watersheds that historically supported anadromous river herring, a keystone species. Numerous state and federal partners have spent significant resources working to restore fish passage to the Ten Mile River, constructing three fish ladders to open over 340 acres of spawning and nursery habitat that is quickly becoming choked with water chestnut.
This project seeks to empower local communities to implement invasive species management activities by demonstrating water chestnut management activities in order to restore habitats in lakes, ponds, and rivers of the Blackstone and Ten Mile River Watersheds; providing technical assistance and training to municipalities in management strategies and scoping RFP processes; funding large scale water chestnut chemical treatment as recommended to lessen the burden of future management; coordinating and supporting volunteer hand-pulling events to train watershed associations to engage communities and eradicate pioneer infestations; and summarizing and marketing deliverables to train additional municipalities to collaboratively manage water chestnut.
Designs for four PRBs will be described, along with results from each PRB. These in-situ tests have demonstrated that nitrate can be reduced to very low concentrations and taken together are being used to determine optimum design criteria including but not limited to PRB width, EVO volume, EVO dilution, injection volume, injection spacing, and distance from the water body. EVO persistence for over five years has been demonstrated. Staggered rows of injection points on spacings of 10-15 feet provided good distribution. PRBs can be as close as 80 feet from the water body. Understanding the groundwater flow rate and direction and flux of nitrate are critical to the design.
Building Climate Resilience: Site Design Approach for Watershed, Soils & Ecology – Kelly Reed (pdf)
The Community MusicWorks Center Water Retention Parklet is a project within the larger campus for CMW's new headquarters. The building, which has been in the planning phase for several years, incorporates a simple yet dynamic and community engaging landscape design that focuses on managing and recycling stormwater rather than overloading the city's drains. The exterior space invites the neighborhood for musical performances, provides outreach opportunities to learn about water reuse and the use of native plant species and to serve as the welcoming feature to the center.
The building footprint maximizes the building area of the site creating a large roofscape, which is the ideal candidate to collect and drain rainwater to the roof drains and then, downspouts. The downspouts exit the building to route water to an underground storage tank for filtration and eventually, reuse. The underground storage tank will be used to irrigate the landscape in a subsurface irrigation system.
Additionally, the site and abutting city sidewalks will be a combination of permeable pavers, landscaped native plantings and rain gardens that will slow runoff. These features will provide groundwater recharge, water quality improvements and peak flow attenuation for all storm events.
To implement the project, the average rainfall for the area needed to be calculated to size and appropriately locate the underground water storage tank. The site is also a brownfield site having previously been the home to a gas station, which required the site to have an environmental evaluation to determine if contaminated soils were present. The project is required to adhere to a work plan to ensure any contaminated soils are capped while also providing new blended soils profiles to support long lifespans of all new plantings and their respective drainage needs.
Mt. Hope Bay has recently undergone changes not only to nutrient loadings from Narragansett Bay watershed reduction efforts, but also fluctuations in temperature and circulation patterns from the shutdown of the power plant within Mt Hope Bay in May 2017. To address the impacts of these changes, estuarine managers need knowledge of how the ecosystem responds to nutrient loading and processes controlling the magnitude of low dissolved oxygen levels (hypoxia). Temperature, salinity, pH, DO, chlorophyll, and nitrate are among the most important parameters needed to assess the dynamics of hypoxia. Continuous long-term monitoring provides information needed to define the temporal variability of water quality. This proposed project will support monitoring efforts for two stations within Massachusetts's waters and utilize monitoring equipment provided by Massachusetts's Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP). Since Mt. Hope Bay has a limited number of sustained continuous monitoring stations, we proposed additional spatial monitoring surveys. These surveys will complement the temporal data by providing the spatial extent of the hypoxia within Mt Hope Bay. This proposal addresses the lack of spatial component to the current monitoring efforts within Mt Hope Bay. We proposed a 30-month project to provide operational funding and support for both monitoring efforts within Mt Hope Bay for two monitoring seasons (May October 2021 and May-October 2022). We will analyze the spatial and temporal data to describe the hypoxia intensity and extent within Mt Hope Bay and provide insight into the representativeness of the temporal monitoring stations by conducting spatial surveys.
Management Tools for Water Quality Protection – Alexie Rudman & Brian Baumgaertel (pptx)
As coastal towns on Cape Cod and across Southeastern New England continue to grapple with nutrient pollution, Innovative/Alternative (I/A) septic systems will be among the technologies being more heavily pursued to address nutrient loading. To implement I/A septic systems on a wider scale, as is the case for the diffusion of many other technologies, both physical and management infrastructure is required. For I/A systems, a Responsible Management Entity (RME) can provide the management infrastructure necessary to operate, maintain, and monitor this technology to ensure they function as designed to protect human and environmental health.
This poster will provide an initial look at the nascent SNEP-funded RME being implemented by Barnstable County's Massachusetts Alternative Septic System Technology Center (MASSTC). The intent of this program is to develop a management utility for decentralized I/A systems tailored to towns' individual nutrient-reduction needs, and to provide for the continued performance of I/A systems that water resource managers will increasingly rely on to meet environmental goals. As the support system for I/A septic technology, the RME will manage all aspects of these systems' lifecycle, collect, and share independent data on their performance, and provide technical and communication support to homeowners, environmental managers, and regulators. This poster will illustrate the regional need for an RME program, describe its three core components (technology, management, and public outreach); provide insight into MASSTC's initial phases of establishing an RME; and discuss early lessons learned from the Pilot. Through this effort, we endeavor to develop a transferrable RME infrastructure with all the basic tools for the proper deployment and management of I/A systems that can be adapted by municipalities within and beyond the SNEP region seeking to implement these systems for water quality protection.