CHAPTER 2 - CCAMP STUDY AREA: TOWNS OF BARNSTABLE AND EASTHAM 



Cape Cod Aquifer Management Project Page 13 



2.5.2 Underground Storage Tanks 



Cape Cod, like many other areas with important groundwater resources 

 is endangered by underground fuel storage tanks. CCPEDC estimates approxi- 

 mately 4550 USTs Capewide (Janik, 1987). As more and more of these tanks 

 are tested, for ensuring that releases to the environment do not occur, it 

 is becoming clear that many have not been pressure tested and thus are or 

 have the potential to contaminate groundwater. As an example of the high 

 potential these tanks pose for environmental contamination, 19 of the 40 

 confirmed hazardous -waste sites on Cape Cod, as listed by DEQE in October 

 1987, were the result of petroleum-product contamination, usually from 

 leaking USTs or piping (Commonwealth of Mass. DEQE, 1987). 



Numerous leaking USTs have been discovered Capewide largely from the 

 widespread implementation of the Barnstable County Health and Environment 

 Department (BCHED) regulations requiring routine testing of aging tanks. 

 The most publicized UST release on Cape Cod which threatened nearby 

 public-supply wells occurred in 1977 when 3,000 gallons of gasoline leaked 

 from a tank at a gas station in Truro. To date, aquifer remediation in 

 Truro has cost more than $5 million dollars. 



2.5.3 Waste -Water Treatment Plants 



Plumes of contamination from large secondary waste water treatment 

 plants at the Massachusetts Military Reservation and in Barnstable have 

 degraded groundwater quality. These plumes have been documented to 

 contain concentrations of nitrogen, BOD, synthetic organic compounds, 

 metals and detergents well in excess of federal and state drinking water 

 standards and have rendered substantial portions of the aquifer unusable. 

 These contaminants threaten downgradient public-supply wells, and in one 

 instance these contaminants caused the closure and abandonment of a 

 public -supply well in Falmouth. 



2.5.4 Septage Pits and Lagoons 



Each year, approximately 64 million gallons of septage are generated 

 on Cape Cod, 22 million gallons from commercial establishments and 42 

 million gallons from residences. Over 90 percent is disposed in open, 

 unlined pits or lagoons frequently located at each town's landfill. Only 

 Chatham, Barnstable and Falmouth have treatment plants that accept septage 

 from haulers. While other communities such as Orleans and Harwich are 

 pursuing the lengthy process of planning and constructing waste water and 

 septage- treatment facilities, human-waste disposal continues to be 

 concentrated in specific areas, creating plumes of contamination which exa- 

 cerbate existing plumes from landfilling operations. Because septage is 

 dewatered waste water, its concentration of contaminants is much greater 

 than the waste water which flows through sewer lines. These plumes are 



