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



Cape Cod Aquifer Management Project Page 7 



waste-water treatment plants, landfills, and industrial development in key 

 water-supply areas, groundwater protection in Barnstable must continue to 

 be an exercise in risk management (one that concurrently controls the 

 threat of contamination from existing sources and clearly identifies and 

 prevents the creation of new threats from high-risk sources and activ- 

 ities) . Because of intricate interrelationships between contamination 

 sources and groundwater flow, sophisticated methods to predict variations 

 in zones of contribution and contaminant transport are needed. With that 

 aim, CCAMP efforts in Barnstable focused on resolution of existing 

 land-use and water-supply conflicts. 



2.2.2 Eastham . 



Eastham has several environmental threats that may result in water 

 quantity and quality problems. These include a sanitary landfill sited in 

 a potential water-supply area, small-lot zoning in all residential sec- 

 tions of town, and due to minimal staff resources, limited enforcement of 

 their toxic and hazardous materials bylaw. The town does not have a 

 groundwater-protection plan in place that could be used to manage the 

 resource. However, Eastham by no means approaches the array and magnitude 

 of groundwater protection issues confronting Barnstable, and hence has 

 options for different siting decisions no longer available to Barnstable 

 in terms of controlling and siting detrimental land-use activities. 

 Eastham still has the opportunity to review zoning and subdivision control 

 bylaws, revamp health regulations and develop a groundwater protection 

 plan. With this in mind, CCAMP concentrated on the type of technical 

 assistance necessary for such a town to better understand its 

 environmental conditions so that practical groundwater protection goals 

 can be met. 



2.3 Hydrogeologv 



The subsurface geology of Barnstable and Eastham, like much of Cape 

 Cod consists of glacial sediments which were deposited at the end of the 

 last period of continental glaciation in New England. The predominant 

 features of the Cape Cod peninsula are glacially derived moraines and 

 outwash plains (Figure 2.1). Both morainal deposits and outwash deposits 

 can sustain large quanities of water for public supply. Unconsolidated 

 beach and dune deposits also contain fresh water, but because of their 

 proximity to the ocean and small areal extent are not used for 

 public -water supply. The crystalline bedrock underlying the glacial 

 sediments is also poorly transmissive and has not been used as a source of 

 water (LeBlanc et al., 1987). 



The glacial outwash deposits provide water for most of the Cape's 118 

 public-water supplies and 31,100 private wells (Janik, 1987). The Cape's 



