CHAPTER 1 

 INTRODUCTION 



1 . 1 Background 



Cape Cod's groundwater is the sole source of water for domestic and 

 for most commercial and industrial uses. In recognition of this and the 

 need to initiate steps to protect the purity of this fragile resource for 

 future generations, EPA officially designated the Cape Cod peninsula as a 

 a Sole Source Aquifer in 1982. 



Groundwater on Cape Cod has long been considered a pristine resource 

 in abundant supply but increasing incidents of contamination of public- 

 and private -supply wells have been occurring in recent years. The 

 extraordinary development pressure on Cape Cod has also created additional 

 cause for concern. Barnstable County, synonymous with Cape Cod, has been 

 growing at the fastest rate in New England. Between 1970 and 1980, the 

 population grew 53 percent; another 46 percent increase is expected in the 

 winter population alone from 1980 to the year 2000. In the year 2000, the 

 Cape Cod aquifer will be called on to provide 230,000 year-round 

 inhabitants with 5 billion gallons of water annually and an additional 3 

 billion gallons during the summer, excluding commercial and other water 

 uses. With this high level of residential growth, will come significant 

 commercial and industrial development. 



The peninsula's sandy, permeable soil and generally shallow depth to 

 the water table make its groundwater particularly vulnerable to contami- 

 nation. Further, as shown in Figure 1.1, there was concern that many of 

 the groundwater- supply areas (or zones of contribution) which provide 

 water for the public-supply wells, were threatened from contamination from 

 the sanitary landfills, hazardous -waste sites, and waste-water treatment 

 plants located within these zones. The combination of this vulnerable 

 groundwater resource and extreme growth made the development of a 

 comprehensive protection program urgent. 



1.2 Project Need 



To address these concerns and issues regarding the protection of Cape 

 Cod's groundwater, the Cape Cod Aquifer Management Project (CCAMP) was 

 inaugurated in August 1985. CCAMP was initiated with the goal of devel- 

 oping a comprehensive, resource-based approach to groundwater protection, 

 coordinated at all levels of government. Control over the groundwater 

 resource and its many potential contamination threats remains fragmented, 

 with responsibilities scattered in many programs and across many levels of 

 government. CCAMP is composed of the following participating agencies: 

 the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Massachusetts Department 

 of Environmental Quality Engineering (DEQE) , Cape Cod Planning and 

 Economic Development Commission (CCPEDC) , and the U. S. Geological Survey 

 (USGS). These agencies were concerned about these perceived 

 inadequacies. A major concern was that groundwater resource management 

 focused on an approach which emphasized remediation of contamination 



