Welcome to Westport Health Notes, a monthly column from the Westport Board of Health (BOH). The goal is to share information with our community about local issues and projects, public health alerts, and even fun facts about the A-to-Z scope of responsibility that local Boards of Health manage.

Last week the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection issued the final version of its two integrated regulations designed to reverse the pervasive degradation of coastal estuaries and embayments caused by excess nitrogen pollution. Most significantly, Westport, along with the rest of the South Coast and the Islands, were exempted from the regulations. Only Cape Cod communities will be required to either compel homeowners to upgrade their septic systems with nitrogen reducing technology, or obtain a Watershed Management Permit from DEP that commits the municipality to achieve specific nitrogen load reductions. The Department’s announcement also stated its intention to continue to work with South Coast communities to “facilitate more nutrient wastewater planning… enabling them to be better prepared in the near future to address nitrogen pollution to embayments and estuaries.”

The grant of regulatory relief and offer of technical support should be seen as a victory of the public comment process. The Board of Health actively participated in that process through its written comments and participation at public meetings. The Board acknowledged the importance of addressing the damage caused by wastewater pollution, but criticized the infeasibility, inequities and lack of flexibility in several provisions that were central to drafts’ framework. While the final regulations extended the timelines for the planning and permit application process and provided flexibility in the implementation of the best nitrogen reduction technology rule, the regulations’ core provisions were not significantly changed.

Limiting the regulations applicability to the Cape appears to recognizes that the years of coordinated public engagement, planning and financial support among the Cape Cod Commission, municipalities, civic organizations and MassDEP laid a foundation that will be essential to the regulations’ timely implementation. That level of coordinated support has not occurred to a comparable degree on the South Coast.

Westport also made its case that a regulatory stick was not necessary in light of the consistent progress the town has achieved and plans to build upon in reducing nitrogen pollution and improving the water quality of the river and drinking water supply. Examples abound: the nitrogen reducing septic systems the Planning Board required for the Middle/High School and Noquochoke Village; the 2020 Targeted, Integrated Water Resource Management Plan that identified the sources of excess nitrogen and quantified the costs and benefits from different pollution reduction alternatives; farmers’ adoption of best manure management practices to prevent high nitrogen runoff from entering the river system; the progress being made by the Infrastructure Oversight Committee in the design and funding for the phased sewering of Rt. 6 and potentially its abutting neighborhoods; and the Board of Health’s rules requiring nitrogen reducing systems for new construction and the phasing out of antiquated cesspools.

The Board of Health endorses and welcomes DEP’s offer to facilitate wastewater planning. But DEP, EPA and the courts retain authority to withdraw the regulatory exemption if planning assistance does not activate South Coast communities to take additional steps that will lead to reduced nitrogen loads. Consequently, while the pressure from imminent state regulation has subsided, continuing our collective efforts to protect and restore our waterways is one of the best ways to ensure that the future health of the river and drinking water remains in the town’s hands.