Green Pond, Bournes Pond, and Eel Pond in East Falmouth

A week after a day-long symposium on the potential for outfall pipes to handle the Cape’s wastewater problem, I’ve finally figured out what’s been bothering me.

It seems that wastewater managers and engineers, in their infinite wisdom, operate according to the “if it can be complicated, why make it simple?” ethic.

The speakers at the ocean outfall forum did not mince words: it would take no less than an amendment to three state acts protecting marine resources—not to mention, years of study and millions of dollars— for an outfall pipe to be constructed on these shores.

They were less candid about the probable impacts on the environment— and were subtle about the whole reason for entertaining the idea of an ocean outfall: it’s cheaper than the only other “approved” method of disposing of wastewater.

Having attended my fair share of conferences, symposia, summits, and forums on wastewater, it seems that there are two distinct schools of thought on the issue. Some play by the rules, insisting there is no way to serve an entire municipality with anything other than sewers and wastewater treatment plants. Others push for “alternatives” such as composting toilets and shellfish aquaculture— options that seem outside the box until you realize that’s the way humans have been disposing of their “waste” for millenia.

An important difference between these two schools of thought is the attention and resources given to the “big pipe” option, while grassroots groups are left to their own devices to promote eco-toilets or aquaculture. Kudos to the Falmouth wastewater committee (CWMP-RC for short!) for opening their minds and supporting a successful town meeting article to give sewering alternatives adequate study— while the taxpayer-funded report by the engineering firm Stearns & Wheler did not.

Known unknowns

An ocean outfall off of New Jersey (courtesy World News Network)

Popular in places where sanitation services are lacking, outfall pipes have fallen out of favor around the globe. Speaking on “possible environmental impacts,” Batelle scientist Carlton Hunt pointed out that the effects of putting semi-treated wastewater into our precious ocean are pretty much unknown.

Think about what products you use in the shower, the kitchen, the laundry room. Would you want to swim in it or eat it later on the half shell? What about road runoff that flows into storm drains?

Dr. Hunt also pointed out the anti-microbial nanotechnology that is appearing in everything from hand sanitizers to socks. David Dow, of the Cape & Islands Sierra Club chapter, pointed out that the byproducts of pharmaceuticals and personal care products are known to cause reproductive problems in fresh-water fish and amphibians. Studies have shown these contaminants of emerging concern in most of the country’s drinking water supply. What will they do in the ocean? We simply don’t know.

We also don’t really know what pumping precious drinking water into our toilets and sinks, and back across town for treatment will do to the water table— or to our municipal energy bills. We may not be water-poor on Cape Cod, but as the Dr. Hunt pointed out, we don’t know what to expect with climate change. Is it wise to build energy-intensive infrastructure in this age of sea level rise and uncertain weather patterns? How many more wind turbines will we need to handle the additional energy demand? (and how will nearby residents feel about that?!)

A truly holistic approach

Nate Weeks of Stearns & Wheler-GHD, with Dale Saad of the Barnstable DPW and Paul Niedzwiecki of the Cape Cod Commission.

There are essentially two reasons for considering an ocean outfall: the wastewater need not be treated to a point where it’s basically drinkable (through reverse osmosis)and town-owned land resources for groundwater discharge are dwindling.  Finding a suitable discharge site is complicated by the need to avoid putting nutrients back into the ground, which would require sewering the discharge area.

All these problems add up to one thing: groundwater discharge will be expensive.

One of the main messages from the panelists is that we need a “holistic approach” to solving our wastewater problem.

For hydrologists, that means recharging the treated wastewater into the groundwater or for irrigation. For Paul Niedzwiecki, director of the Cape Cod Commission, “holistic” means we need to collaborate as a region, rather than as individual towns. For Nate Weeks, of Stearns & Wheler-GHD, the term means we need to consider all the big-pipe options, no matter the regulatory obstacle course. For residents advocating for eco-toilets, aquaculture, and inlet widening, the answer lies in using our unused nutrients as compost and fish food, removing the “waste” from the wastewater equation.

It could be that being truly holistic means trying all these approaches, but in the end, decisions will have to be made. Why not make it simple, if we can avoid the complications?

Nicole Goldman, owner of “g”Green Design Center in Mashpee Commons, said that people walking through her door are not always aware of the simple steps they can take to become more green.

With her “one-hour speed greening” service, she walks customers through their homes, recommending a switch to plant-based cleaning products, setting up an easy recycling and composting system, and other low-impact ways of greening the household.

Step 1: Reduce Your Consumption

Now in business for four years, Ms. Goldman said she has seen a growing demand for eco-friendly products and services, and the market— and the tax code— are responding.

“People are not sure where to begin. They get overwhelmed and think they have to do everything at once. We help give them a jumpstart,” Ms. Goldman said.

She added that even though some of the products in her store are more expensive than what one might find at Home Depot, the quality and durability makes them a more ecologically responsible choice— and will end up saving customers money.

“Being green is about thinking smartly about the materials you put in your house, what you ingest, and what resources you consume,” she said.

Step 2: Energy Efficiency

Homeowners interested in reducing their energy bills should take advantage of a home energy audit before replacing windows or insulation, she said. She recommended a comprehensive home energy audit provided by Cape Light Compact for a small fee.

“People are a lot more educated and aware about their energy use. They see the costs of fuel going up. It’s not just about saving money, but it’s certainly a forceful incentive,” Ms. Goldman said.

According to Cape & Islands Self Reliance, federal tax credits for household renewable energy have been extended for another year, meaning homeowners and businesses can qualify for rebates of up to 30 percent of the cost of installing wind turbines or solar photovoltaic systems, solar thermal systems for heating and domestic hot water. These systems generate renewable energy on-site and sell any unused electricity back to the grid.

“The paybacks are much quicker now. Not only does the government pay back the cost of the system, you then go on to enjoy free use,” Ms. Goldman said.

Step 3: Compost is Black Gold

If installing solar panels or a wind turbine is not an option, there are still a number of ways to establish eco-friendly habits in the home.

Anne-Marie Runfola, a composting expert and member of the Falmouth Farmers Market board of directors, said that the average household can reduce 30 to 70 percent of its trash by composting food scraps and recycling.

“We don’t have the space for landfills, so we’re trucking and training trash farther. That’s bad for air quality, carbon emissions, and the economy,” she said.

Composting has the added benefit of being an excellent fertilizer for a garden or potted plants. By mixing a carbon source such as leaves with nitrogen-heavy compost, nutrients are “fixed” at the source, helping control nitrogen runoff and erosion, she said.

Using compost instead of fertilizer made from petrochemicals on one’s garden has much less of an impact on the environment— and on the pocketbook, Ms. Runfola said. “By throwing food out, we’re paying for garbage to be taken away, and we’re paying again for fertilizer to go in,” she said.

Step 4: Eat your vegetables

While carbon dioxide has grabbed most of the attention as a greenhouse gas, nitrous oxide and methane are even longer-lasting and effective agents of climate change.

For that reason, the European Nitrogen Assessment reported at conference held this month in Scotland that the best thing people can do to reduce their nitrogen footprint is eat less meat, said Eric A. Davidson, a senior scientist at the Woods Hole Research Center.

Livestock are not particularly efficient at converting protein in the food they eat. A cow converts 10 percent of the protein it eats into meat products that humans consume. Pork and chicken are a little better, and fish is probably the best. So eating meat is wasteful in terms of the protein needed in the human diet.

-Eric Davidson, WHRC

That protein inefficiency has upstream effects, Dr. Davidson said. The greenhouse gases created by confined animal feeding operations and the fertilizers required to grow crops to feed them amounted to 6.3 percent of total US emissions in 2009, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency.

Fertilizer and manure runoff to the Mississippi River has created a “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico due to an overabundance of nitrogen, killing fish and other marine life.

Dedicated carnivores need not give up meat entirely, said Dr. Davidson. As demonstrated at the nitrogen assessment conference, simply reducing the amount of meat consumed each day or at each meal makes a difference, while satisfying hunger.

“It’s probably not a big enough difference for mitigating our local problem of nitrogen in our sewage. But for the Mississippi River or global climate change, one thing everyone can do is reduce the portion size and frequency of eating meat,” Dr. Davidson said.

What’s your nitrogen footprint? Calculate it here!

Step 5: Drive less, ride more

With gas prices topping $3.83 per gallon in Falmouth yesterday, people are motivated to find alternatives to driving, said Thomas S. Cahir, executive director of the Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority.

Since last July, the bus company has seen 16 percent more riders on its fixed route service over the previous year. Ridership on the SeaLine from Woods Hole to Hyannis was up by nearly 16.5 percent, while the WHOOSH trolley from Woods Hole to the Falmouth Mall was up by 15 percent.

“We’ve always felt the geography and seasonal aspects of the Cape really scream out for a vibrant and robust transport system. But it’s hard to get people out of their cars,” said Mr. Cahir, pointing to the CCRTA’s new hourly schedule and billing system on its B-bus service as reasons for increased ridership.

According to the American Public Transportation Association, cars and trucks are responsible for 33 percent of total greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, but a person who commutes 20 miles a day by bus instead of driving can reduce their carbon footprint by 10 percent.

Mr. Cahir said the CCRTA’s bus fleet uses 20 percent biodiesel, increasing the environmental benefits. The CCRTA plans to expand with a route in Bourne and Sandwich by October and a statewide public transportation pass that can be used from Logan Airport to the Steamship Authority and island bus systems by next year.

Step 6: Bike to work

But the most ecologically responsible way to get around is bicycling, said Edward S. Gross, chairman of the Falmouth Bikeways Committee.

“Biking is a non-polluting activity and contributes to our own health. It’s also a community service, reducing congestion on the road,” he said.

Since the Shining Sea Bikeway was extended in 2009, use of the nearly 11-mile path has increased by 50 percent, averaging 1,440 users on a weekend springtime day, he said.

Falmouth can certainly do more to become a bicycling-friendly community, he added, by painting bike lanes and “sharrows” on the roadways and routes to schools. It is something of a catch-22, however, because the town will probably not take these steps unless there is a demand— and until people think it is safe to ride a bike on the road, there won’t be as much demand.

In its annual bid to promote bicycle commuting, the League of American Cyclists has declared May as National Bike Month, with May 16 to 20 as National Bike to Work Week.

In Falmouth, bicycling advocates will be observing Bike to Work Day on May 18, with free coffee, pastries, and information at two booths along the Shining Sea Bikeway.

Six steps… and beyond

So, to recap, there are six things you can do today, this week, or this month to green up your life: don’t buy something that you can’t reuse or recycle;  turn off unnecessary appliances and sign up for a free energy audit; throw away food scraps in a bin and attend a composting workshop for the next steps; trade in some of your meat for fresh vegetables;  take the bus, carpool, or bike to work or on your errands.

Anything else? Let us know how you celebrate Earth Day!

What some may consider a pie-in-the-sky scenario is becoming closer to reality, as the Department of Environmental Protection develops a zero waste policy goal for the future.
With skyrocketing solid waste disposal costs and the toxic emissions from landfills and trash incinerators contributing to climate change, the concept of zero waste is being embraced as a realistic, common-sense solution to a number environmental and social ills.

Lynne Pledger, of Clean Water Action and Don't Waste Massachusetts

While it may not be possible to completely eliminate all waste, Lynne Pledger, the solid waste director of Clean Water Action, outlined the steps for getting closer.

“Zero waste is like the North Star. You don’t have to get there, just use it as a guide,” Ms. Pledger said in a forum organized by the Falmouth Climate Action Team, the Falmouth Solid Waste Advisory Committee, and the Cape and Islands chapter of the Sierra Club.

Not only does waste represent inefficiency in society, it is a major contributor to climate change, emitting potent greenhouse gases (methane and CO2) and toxins from landfills and incinerators, Ms. Pledger said.

Throwing things away instead of reusing them also means more natural resources are consumed, destroying ecosystems and habitats in the process.

For example, the bauxite needed to produce aluminum cans has ravaged parts of Jamaica, Iceland, Guinea, Australia, and India— a process that also requires 20 times the amount of energy as recycling aluminum.

The 3 R’s

The mantra of the waste disposal hierarchy—reduce, reuse, recycle—rings true in achieving zero waste, said Ms. Pledger.

By reusing shopping bags to composting, people are already taking steps to reduce their household garbage.

But in order to get to zero waste  municipalities and manufacturers will also have to step up their efforts.

The DEP’s Pathway to Zero Waste solid waste master plan for 2010-2020:

According to the DEP,  recycling, reuse, and remanufacturing:

To cut the state’s garbage in half, commercial-scale composting facilities or anaerobic digesters will be needed in every region to handle food scraps from residences and businesses, Ms. Pledger said.

In the 125 municipalities nationwide that offer curbside composting along with recycling and trash disposal, she said trash collection has decreased to twice a month, offsetting costs.

A pay-as-you-throw program for curbside trash collection has also proven to reduce solid waste tonnage, Ms. Pledger added.

Setting a nationwide example, San Francisco instituted a mandatory recycling and composting program last year, a huge gain in achieving its goal of zero waste by 2020.

Boston and San Francisco are similar in size and demographics, Ms. Pledger pointed out, but currently San Francisco diverts 75 percent of its solid waste, while Boston diverts only 13 percent.

“The difference is political will,” she said.

Think globally, act locally

Taking steps toward zero waste represents an opportunity for Falmouth to increase “green tourism” while also saving money and protecting the environment, Ms. Pledger said.

Local boards of health have the authority to determine what can be handled at a transfer station, she said— meaning that the board could decide to ban recyclable goods and organic materials from the Upper Cape Regional Transfer Station.

Falmouth DPW Director Ray Jack has gone on the record in support of regionalizing solid waste services, another of the DEP’s solid waste guidelines. He has also expressed support for mandatory recycling program and a materials reclamation center on Cape Cod.
As the Cape’s contracts with the SEMASS waste-to-energy incinerator near expiration (2015 in Falmouth) and the Bourne landfill, well, fills, this forward-thinking step could reduce our solid waste disposal costs significantly—meanwhile creating a market for used (but still perfectly useful) construction and art materials.
A reclamation facility similar to Urban Ore in San Francisco would create a market for builders who want cheaper or more unique building materials, and could also be expanded to take in household goods, clothing, and other useful materials, similar to the Falmouth Waste Management Facility’s popular Swap Shop.

The EPR model

-Product Policy Institute

EPR is just one way of incorporating societal costs into consumer products.

Are we flushing money down the toilet?

As someone who goes to a fair share of wastewater-related meetings, I wasn’t expecting to be blown away at last weekend’s Eco-Toilet Summit.

On a conceptual level, I felt I already understood the basics of composting human waste— hey, I do it every day with food scraps.

Adding one step through my digestive system to my garden seemed to make sense… from a theoretical point of view.

But after hearing about the range of eco-toilet options available, and a variety of perspectives from regular residents, the theoretical became possible.

What stopped making sense is the way we use—and view—the bathroom.

Saturday’s Eco-Toilet Summit was a one-stop shop for those interested in reducing household water use and recovering nutrients from our excretia to make fertilizer to grow food.

A mid-size Phoenix composting toilet

Curious residents flocked to the shrines of ecological design—a large blue Phoenix composting toilet, the Ecovita’s familiar white bowl with a tiny hole for urine diversion, and the diminutive, portable Pacto toilet—and took advantage of the friendly sales representatives to ask questions:

How do they work? Does it smell? How much would it cost to install?

Sponsored by a coalition of grassroots environmental groups, the afternoon was dedicated to learning more about modern ecological approaches to dealing with an age-old problem: how and where to dispose of our waste?

That is the $600 million question, as Falmouth considers ways to clean up decades of nitrogen loading to sensitive coastal embayments, and one which the summit’s sponsors hope can be answered with alternatives to centralized sewering.

I know. Maybe not everyone’s cup of tea. But for anyone who poops and pees, it might be worth it to hold your nose and pay attention.

Eco-logical justice

The go-to solution for the past several decades has been centralized sewering, which collects sewage, storm water, and graywater (laundry, shower, and dish water) in a network of underground pipes for treatment and eventual release back into the groundwater.

I won’t get into all the pro’s and con’s of sewering here, suffice to say that there are two factions of environmentalists doing battle in town: biologists who favor sewers as a proven way to keep nutrients out of the groundwater; and ecologists who view the cycle of nutrients as a “closed-loop” system and favor composting to pump n’ treat.

It’s a fascinating chapter in environmental history, as we discover how we are all responsible for the decline of eel grass and shellfish in our beloved harbors.

The debate also takes on an environmental justice perspective, as one considers the economic cost-benefits of sewering vs. composting or diverting our waste.

Eco-toilet panelists Abe Noe (Phoenix), Carol Steinfeld (Ecovita), Hilde Maingay (the Green Center) and former state rep Matt Patrick

For eco-toilet advocates, the solution to nutrient management lies in closing the loop between waste and resources.

With urine-diverting and composting toilets, the waste products are collected and pumped out roughly every six months, depending on the size of the household. With a compacting toilet, waste is packaged neatly into a plastic or biodegradable bag, which can be collected for compost or thrown out weekly with the garbage, just like regular diapers.

Storage from six months (for urine) to two years (for solids) removes pathogens from the waste, a process that may also break down pharmaceuticals and contaminants of concern.

A composting toilet or urine-diverting system takes advantage of biological processes to break down the nutrients in urine and feces to create potent fertilizer and carbon-rich humus, said Don Mills, a sales manager for the Lawrence-based compost toilet vendor Clivus Multrum.

A conventional wastewater treatment system uses the same process, but combines household waste with stormwater, requiring enormous amounts of energy to pump and adding heavy metals and pollutants to the mix.

Earle Barnhart, whose Green Center organization was the primary sponsor of the summit, noted that treating human waste as a resource could lead to the development of new industries. Whether collected and processed on-site or elsewhere, the compost and fertilizer could be sold and used to grow organic produce, he said.

Dollars and sense

For former state representative Matt  Patrick, the eco-toilet alternative would save residents millions in betterments and taxes to finance the sewer system. Going the sewer route, he warned, could force middle- and low-income residents to leave town.

I don’t think any of us want to live in a community that’s all wealthy, where middle class and low-income families can’t afford to live. But that might be one of the outcomes if we press forward with a conventional sewer system.

-Matt Patrick

According to Mr. Patrick, installing two urine diverting toilets in every home in the south coast watershed would amount to just 10% of the cost of sewering those neighborhoods.

(2 UD toilets + 2 UD urinals @ $1,500-$3,000/home)                    x 8,000 homes = $12-24 million

+ $175/year pump-out  x 8,000 homes = $1.4 million

x 10 years= $14 million

Grand total cost for 10 years installation & maintenance:

$26-38 million.

Not only would about 80 percent of the nitrogen currently leaching from septics be stopped in its tracks, but local plumbers and waste service industries would be employed by this system, Mr. Patrick said.

The cost for each alternative system varies depending on household needs, but the vendors estimated about $1,000 for a micro-flush urine-diverting toilet; about $1,100 for a compacting toilet, plus $200 a year for disposable bags; and up to $6,000 for a large composting toilet, not including installation and maintenance.

A three- to 12-watt fan is required to remove odors from the composting system, but Mr. Patrick noted that the electricity cost for such a system is less than one energy-saving light bulb.

The Falmouth precedent

One of the recurring questions from the audience was whether this innovative method of handling waste had been done elsewhere.

Mr. Patrick said that UD toilets are popular in Sweden. Don Mills of Clivus Multrum pointed out that Europeans, Americans, and Asians only stopped using “night soil” as fertilizer in the last century.

I might add that Africans are also composting their waste, providing low-cost sanitation as well as bananas, a source of food and income.

Hilde Maingay, of The Green Center, makes the case for eco-toilets as a means of achieving social justice

Faced with an almost overwhelming dilemma, Falmouth has a unique opportunity to set a precedent among coastal communities. Yes, it is scary to be the guinea pig—but how appropriate, given our world-renowned science community and ecological pioneer residents.

Money is relative to social justice and long-term stability. [Eco-toilets] could add more stability to communities and make them more socially just.

-Hilde Maingay, the Green Center

The Eco-Toilet Summit organizers are not expecting anyone to just take their word for it, however.

They are hoping for a study of these alternative systems, including an energy-use cost-comparison with a conventional system and the regulatory mechanism by which residents could install (and maybe even get loans for) an eco-toilet system of their choice.

The cost-benefit

Mr. Patrick is in favor of urine-diverting toilets, which sequester the high nitrogen content in urine while using small amounts of water to flush feces into a septic system.

He’s a fan because of the relatively low cost and high nutrient recovery. Given that the system only needs to be pumped periodically, the maintenance requirements are also pretty low.

Composting toilets are already approved by the Department of Environmental Protection and are widely used in Massachusetts, but urine-diverting toilets have yet to go through the permitting process.

While the jury is still out as to whether composting waste will remove the pharmaceuticals and other harmful chemicals, eco-toilet proponents make a good point that it is better to remove those “contaminants of concern” from the waste stream altogether, rather than combine them for centralized treatment.

Currently, most wastewater treatment plants lack the technology to remove the aspirin, caffeine, hormones, and pesticides from effluent anyway.

Even with an eco-toilet, septic systems would still be required to handle the household laundry, bathing, and dishwater, also known as graywater. The pollutants associated with those systems would not be addressed by an alternative toilet system either.

I’ve written at length about UD toilets, composting and compacting systems elsewhere on Under the Lens, so please click here if you are interested in the details.

Footnote: it’s in the report

For further reading, it’s interesting to note that Stearns & Wheler, the engineering design firm that developed a draft of Falmouth’s comprehensive wastewater management system, devoted a few pages to “waterless toilets” and UD systems in its 454-page report.

a. Wastewater flows and loads are reduced if properly designed and installed.

b. Water consumption is significantly reduced.

c. Minimal environmental concerns occur when properly sited and designed.

d. Composting toilets require minimal energy use.

e. Size of standard septic system can be reduced to treat only gray wastewater.

f. Routine maintenance is minimal and requires no special training.

As for urine diverting toilets, Stearns & Wheler lists the advantages:

a. Water consumption is reduced.
b. Minimal environmental concerns occur when properly sited and designed.
c. The nutrients in the urine could be positively recirculated in the environment by use as fertilizers.
d. The technology could decrease the nutrient removal costs associated with wastewater (less the urine component) at the WWTF.

Urine source separation toilets have the following disadvantages, according to Stearns & Wheler.

a. Existing biological and chemical technologies at WWTFs are not sufficient to treat concentrated urine. Additional facilities would need to be designed and constructed.
b. Homeowner renovation costs would include new toilets, plumbing, and urine storage facilities. Urine separating toilets are likely to be costly and lack decorative design options which may decrease homeowner acceptance.
c. Increased homeowner disposal hauling costs associated with two separate collection systems.
d. Septage hauling trucks may need retrofitted equipment to properly handle concentrated urine.
e. Technology works correctly with proper use. Proper use is limited to sitting on the toilet, meaning behavior modification for males.
f. Technology works correctly with proper maintenance, which includes removing urine scale that can block pipes over time and using certain cleaning agents which would not contaminate the collection tank.
g. Human urine use as an agricultural fertilizer may not be socially acceptable.
h. Not well suited to high seasonal community and tourist population.

Wes Jackson, founder of The Land Institute, at MBL's Lillie Auditorium

In order to solve humanity’s biggest crises—hunger, malnutrition, environmental degradation, and even climate change—farmers and ecologists need to get married.

That was the message Wes Jackson, founder and president of The Land Institute of Salina, Kansas, brought to Woods Hole last week.

In a room filled with local scientists and backyard farmers, one could imagine a harmonious marriage.

If only the two hadn’t gotten divorced in the first place.

Speaking at MBL’s Lillie Auditorium on Feb. 2, Dr. Jackson’s wisdom was disguised in his easy Kansas manner.

“We need a system with an ecological world view,” he said, resting his elbow on a bent knee at the front of the stage.

“We need to start where climate change began: agriculture.”

A geneticist-agronomist and author who has received a number of prestigious awards– including the MacArthur Fellowship in 1992 and the Right Livelihood Award in 2000– Dr. Jackson has dedicated his life’s work to developing perennial grains, including wheat, rice, sorghum, and prairie flowers.

Agricultural colonialism?

Since wheat was first developed as a domestic crop in 9000 BCE, farming has meant cultivating annual monocultures, Dr. Jackson said. But while great advances in civilization were made possible by the spread of agriculture, it also led to the destruction of the environment that supported it.

Wheat was the “pulverized coal of the soil. That’s where climate change had its beginnings,” he said. “If we were to eat, nature had to be subdued or ignored.”

Recognizing that scientific discoveries—including Copernican theory, Galileo’s discoveries, and Darwin’s theory of the evolution of species—would not have been possible if humanity had remained hunter-gatherers, Dr. Jackson pointed out that these advances were based on the “extracting economy” of various European empires, especially the British empire.

Whether people are mining for coal or engineering seeds to increase crop yields, there are consequences to this world view, he said.

With soil erosion in many parts of the world exceeding natural replacement levels and fertilizer runoff creating “dead zones” in places like the Gulf of Mexico, “we’re losing the stuff we are made of to the sea,” Dr. Jackson said.

Fifty years after Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring exposed the ecological threat posed by pesticides, the industry has doubled in size, he added. Though fertilizers led to the “green revolution,” the energy required to produce them outpaces the amount of calories created.

If only we would learn…

Humanity is operating on a “3.45 billion-year-old imperative” that causes us to seek out carbon-based resources to sustain ourselves, Dr. Jackson told the audience.

“There was never a need to practice restraint. It has to be something learned,” he said. “If we can save our soils, we can keep alive what we’ve learned on this long journey.”

Cultivating perennial poly-cultures can solve a number of agricultural headaches, from drought, pests, and the amount of work required to plow, plant, and harvest the crops each season, he said.

In partnership with researchers in China and Sweden, Land Institute researchers around the world are working on perennial varieties of the world’s three major major grains, rice, corn, and wheat– as well as oil-producing plants like mustard and sunflowers.

Dr. Jackson acknowledged the concept he and his colleagues are developing will not be popular with seed suppliers, and fertilizer, pesticide, and oil companies.

But even without millions in corporate and government funding, The Land Institute has been able to refute the arguments often made by pro-genetic engineering types and chemical corporations.

A paper published in 2008 by Land Institute researcher Stan Cox showed that perennial crops have the potential to  feed a growing, ever-hungry population without destroying nature.

In this vision, the “sustainable agriculture industry” finally ceases to be an oxymoron– and in fact, could provide the hope for greater food security across the globe.

Considering that in 2006, prices for basic grains jumped 80 % for wheat, 60% for corn, and a whopping 320% for rice, the world’s hungry need all the help they can get.

If the uprising in Egypt is at least partly due to rising food prices– in a country where people barely survive on $2 a day– it’s possible that revolutionizing agriculture could also lead to word peace.

The perennial promise

Unfurling an 18-foot poster comparing perennial wheat to its domestic sister species, Dr. Jackson pointed out that the perennial variety’s long root system can find water where the annual plant cannot.

Perennial wheat has been found to fix carbon in the soil and reduce nitrate and water losses typically incurred at each harvest.

Furthermore, its productive life span of five to 10 years means a heartier crop that can compete with weeds and resist pests, reducing the need for pesticides.

Perennial wheat strains developed by The Land Institute have only been able to produce 40 percent of the seeds of an annual variety, said Dr. Jackson, who estimated the perennial strain will require up to 50 more years of interbreeding to match–and eventually exceed– that level of productivity.

But it will likely be worth the wait. Lab tests have shown that flour made from perennial wheat has 40 percent more protein, 10 times more folate and lutein, and up to 600 percent more nutrients than traditional wheat flour.

Dr. Jackson’s books, including the 2010 Consulting the Genius of the Place: An Ecological Approach to New Agriculture, provide plenty of food for thought on the subject of sustainable agriculture, in which biologists and backyard gardeners may find common ground.

I wonder what would be served at the wedding.

A typical urine-diverting toilet collects solid and liquid waste, which could be processed into fertilizer, removing nitrogen from the waste stream

Considering that we all flush at least three times a day, it’s surprising how little we know about where our waste goes. Into a white bowl and then down a pipe— never to be seen, smelled, or thought of again.

But as many Cape Codders are beginning to realize, that’s not really the case. The by-products of our waste are seeping out of underground septic systems and into the groundwater, flowing finally into coastal ponds. The nutrients are harmless by themselves, but in concentrated form, throw off the ecological balance of sensitive estuarine systems.

Though there are many nutrients and “contaminants of concern” to be worried about, nitrogen is known as the culprit for changing pristine harbors into algae-filled swamps, devoid of marine life. Or so we fear.

Last night, Falmouth selectmen approved a town-wide comprehensive wastewater management plan (CWMP), developed over the course of several months last year by a panel of community members. It calls for over $300 million to install a sewer system in the neighborhoods south of Route 28 from Little Pond to Seapit Peninsula. Millions more are expected to sewer the next phases north of Route 28.

The CWMP committee and selectmen also set aside funding for the study of alternatives to sewering, which could lower the overall cost of the plan.

Several of these options were covered in a forum held earlier this month at the Waquoit Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (WBNERR), in which four experts in various areas of wastewater treatment delivered “The Scoop on the Poop” from the perspective of traditional sewer systems, alternative systems, shellfish aquaculture, and coastal engineering.

It’s not as complicated as it sounds. In fact, it should be taught in grade schools.

The big pipe method

Falmouth's wastewater treatment plant on Blacksmith Shop Road is one of just five such facilities on Cape Cod

Michael Giggey, the senior vice president of Wright-Pierce, an engineering and consulting firm, started off the evening with an overview of the municipal treatment options, from individual “on-site” systems to cluster and satellite systems to centralized wastewater treatment facilities.

As an advisor to the Town of Orleans on its comprehensive wastewater management plan and an islandwide wastewater plan on Martha’s Vineyard, Mr. Giggey noted that each watershed has different needs, which can be met through a combination of technologies.

The simplest option, he pointed out, is to simply eliminate the main controllable source of nitrogen pollution by removing enough septic tanks to meet the TMDL and connecting those homes to a sewer system, discharging the treated effluent outside the watershed.

However, across the Cape, that strategy has proven to not be so simple, and certainly is not cheap.

In Falmouth alone, the cost of sewering homes south of Route 28 from Little Pond to Seapit Peninsula is expected to cost $310 million for the first two phases, to be paid for by a combination of taxes and homeowner betterments. Across the Cape and Islands, these figures add up to billions.

In a report compiled last April by the Barnstable County Wastewater Cost Task Force, the study found the most important factor when choosing a wastewater treatment strategy is the amount of nitrogen that each system can remove per dollar spent. Centralized wastewater treatment facilities can reduce nitrogen down to 3 milligrams per liter, whereas effluent from on-site denitrifying systems ranges from 10 to 19 mg/L, Mr. Giggey said.

Though sewer mains and wastewater treatment facilities require a large amount of capital up front, the task force found that operation and maintenance costs for a centralized sewer system were far lower than on-site denitrifying systems, cluster, or satellite systems.

“It’s not just about cost, but cost-effectiveness,” said Mr. Giggey, who served on the task force. “It would seem the most cost-effective option is with the larger systems.”

David Dow, president of the Cape and Islands chapter of the Sierra Club, asked Mr. Giggey whether wastewater managers on Cape Cod have had any experience with removing “contaminants of concern” from effluent. These chemicals are the byproducts of pharmaceuticals, personal care products, and detergents that most wastewater systems do not treat, or even monitor.

“Unfortunately, there’s not a lot of local experience. We’re just now getting our arms around what nitrogen does. Contaminants of concern are not just one compound, it’s thousands,” Mr. Giggey said.

Innovative & Alternative systems

The British-designed "Loowatt" toilet was originally built with the waste disposal needs of developing countries in mind.

Also serving on the task force was panelist George Heufelder, director of the Barnstable County Department of Health and the Environment, who established the Massachusetts Alternative Septic System Test Center at the Massachusetts Military Reservation in 1999.

Mr. Heufelder noted that every wastewater treatment option works on basically the same principle: to “manipulate the nitrogen cycle inside a black box.” Though some methods are more efficient than others, the basic idea is to break down nitrates into nitrogen gas, a major component of the air we breathe.

In over a decade of testing, Mr. Heufelder found that innovative and alternative (I/A) systems “remove about 50 percent of the nitrogen 70 percent of the time.”

Emerging membrane technologies, such as the Nitrex, is capable of removing 90 percent of nitrogen from groundwater. The Nitrex, which Mr. Heufelder referred to as “a box of proprietary cellulose material, otherwise known as wood chips,” and other membrane systems are also becoming cheaper and easier to maintain.

A composting toilet: the only difference is the pipe

Another affordable and effective option for individual homeowners is the composting toilet, which Mr. Heufelder noted has an added benefit of separating toilet waste from graywater—the shower, sink, and dishwasher water that usually goes down the drain.

In an earlier comment from North Falmouth resident Alison Robb about the need to keep drinking water from becoming wastewater, Mr. Heufeulder agreed that the tradition of defecating into potable water “is lunacy, but we do it.”

However, he said it would probably require “mass hypnosis” to get every resident to install a composting toilet and never put kitchen scraps or chemicals down the drain. Even if Town Meeting members bought into composting toilets as a nitrogen management strategy, the Department of Environmental Protection would need a way to ensure its regulations were being met, he said.

“It’s trust and verify. Not everyone’s composting nicely in the back yard. There will be some nitrogen [in the system], and we need to know what it is,” said Mr. Heufelder.

The Eco-flush urine diverting toilet can remove 90% of the nitrogen from human waste, using 80% less water than a traditional toilet

Another innovative home nitrogen removal method on the market is the urine-diverting toilet, which was on display at WBNERR, thanks to Conrad Geyser, president of Cotuit Solar.

Though Mr. Heufelder admitted that he and other men might have a problem sitting down to use the toilet, he said one day the market for phosphorus and nitrogen would put a premium on mankind’s most abundant waste product.

Because urine contains up to 90 percent of the nitrogen and 50 percent of the phosphorus in domestic wastewater, separating and collecting it is also a simple way to prevent nutrients from reaching the groundwater.

“I envision a day when someone comes to your door to write you a check for good-quality urine,” Mr. Heufelder said, estimating that there is a total of 150 more years of phosphorus left in traditional mines.

Mr. Heufelder noted that membrane systems can be “a little power hungry,” using five to eight kilowatt hours per day in a typical home. However, the Nitrex makes use of a trickling system with lower energy use, he said.

There are other costs associated with on-site systems that should be factored into their overall costs, said Mr. Heufelder, estimating that one full-time employee would be required for every 1,500 on-site systems to ensure they meet environmental standards.

Furthermore, homeowners are required by regulations to have a maintenance contract for their on-site system, and any residual waste would have to be disposed or converted into fertilizer by a private company, he said.

“I cannot imagine DEP allowing composting or urine-diverting toilets unless the residuals leave the watershed completely,” he said.

The shellfish solution

The Sippewissett oyster, a product of local aquaculture efforts

While town officials and residents tend to focus on technical solutions for wastewater treatment, local scientists are turning to Mother Nature to help reduce the nitrogen load.

Diane Murphy, an aquaculture and fisheries specialist for the WHOI Sea Grant and Cape Cod Cooperative Extension, gave an overview of the potential for shellfish aquaculture to remove nitrogen from sensitive coastal embayments.

While shellfish are becoming more accepted as a method for meeting total maximum nitrogen loads (TMDLs), Ms. Murphy emphasized that aquaculture should not be considered the only solution for reducing nitrogen loads.

“Oysters can serve a crucial role in the uptake of nitrogen. Aquaculture should not be the sole source, but should be integrated into a nitrogen management plan,” she said.

Acting as grazers on the sea floor, oysters and other shellfish consume the phytoplankton that tend to grow in the presence of elevated nitrogen levels. The more food there is, the more the oysters grow.

Though there are conflicting reports on how much water oysters are capable of filtering each day, the accepted number is about 20 gallons per day, Ms. Murphy said. Studies have found that a market-size oyster can sequester an average of 0.52 grams of nitrogen and 0.16 grams of phosphorus over its lifetime.

When harvested, all that nitrogen is removed from the ecosystem “free of charge,” she said.

Based on a study of the 2006 oyster harvest in Wellfleet, Ms. Murphy said that 20,000 bushels of oysters can assimilate 282 kilograms of nitrogen. The oyster feces become buried in the sediment, stimulating denitrifying bacteria, a process that results in nitrogen gas being released to the atmosphere. In Wellfleet that year the total nitrogen removed was 2.3 tons.

Even though oysters are good to eat, Ms. Murphy does not advocate turning every coastal pond into an aquaculture site, noting the impact on recreational users’ access to and enjoyment of the water.

A large-scale oyster aquaculture project could clean up Falmouth's coastal ponds, create jobs and increase local food production

About 2.5 million oysters would be needed to filter all the water in Waquoit Bay, Ms. Murphy said, requiring about 10,000 square meters, or about 2.5 acres, for all of the gear.

According to an estimate by Woods Hole resident and aquaculture consultant Ron Zweig, many more oysters may be necessary to adequately filter the water, covering up to 30 acres of the 825-acre bay.

The ecosystem also has a certain “carrying capacity” for aquaculture production, and even oysters have their limits before disease, predation, and lack of food inhibit their growth, she said. Because each estuary is different, she recommended a feasibility study to determine how extensive an aquaculture operation the ecosystem is capable of supporting.

Mashpee Shellfish Constable Rick York. said that conditions in the estuary also determine the type of shellfish most suitable for aquaculture. In the low salinity of the Mashpee River, he had great success in growing half a million oysters without fear of predation or disease. Since 2005, the oysters have removed over a ton of nitrogen, he said, which increased the dissolved oxygen content to the point of being safe again for fish.

However, he said the Mashpee River is unique, and in other areas he would recommend seeding quahogs instead of oysters.

“I take issue with oysters having the most potential,” he said. “Quahogs don’t filter as much water, but they consume as much nutrient.”

Flushing the bays

Another strategy to decrease the impacts of nitrogen in sensitive embayments is to increase the amount of “flushing,” or exchange, between the ocean and the estuary.

Nitrogen concentration is higher at the head of coastal ponds, but becomes diluted in areas of greater flushing

The adage, “the solution to pollution is dilution” rings true in this case, said John Ramsey, a senior coastal engineer at Applied Coastal Research and Engineering, a Mashpee firm.

If the tidal conditions are right, nitrogen concentrations can be decreased to acceptable levels, even if the load remains high, he said. Since people tend to live near the water, the nitrogen load at the head of the bay tends to be higher than that near the tidewater.

Due to coastal geology, estuary inlets tend to become filled with sand, or even become blocked by the formation of barrier beaches, he said, showing slides of such events. Unless the inlets are dredged, flushing will decrease over time, Mr. Ramsey said.

Even if the inlets are maintained, all tides are not created equal. While Cape Cod Bay has a 13-foot tide, Vineyard Sound only has a 1.5-foot fluctuation, and Buzzards Bay tides are about 4.5 feet.

“The size of the pump matters,” Mr. Ramsey said. Some towns, he said, “are at a huge disadvantage for tidal flushing.”

Green Pond, Bournes Pond, and Eel Pond in East Falmouth

In Falmouth, Bournes Pond has been cited as one area that does get a generous amount of flushing activity. Mr. Ramsey said if the inlet could be widened from 50 to 100 feet, the coastal pond’s nitrogen concentration would be reduced from 0.6 milligrams per liter to 0.46 mg/L. That reduction would mean that half as many homes in the Bournes Pond watershed would have to be connected to a sewer, he said.

Although on paper widening the inlet seems like a win-win solution, wetland protection regulations place restrictions on projects of this kind because of the impacts on barrier beaches, which protect coastal zones from storms and flooding and provide habitat for endangered species, said Mr. Ramsey.

“Widening the Bournes Pond inlet will create a bigger footprint of impact on the barrier beach system. It’s something regulators will struggle with,” he said.

Though it is still in draft form, the bylaw declares the entire town a nitrogen-sensitive area, limiting new home construction or additions to four bedrooms per acre, with those on smaller lots limited to three bedrooms.

Homes that already exceed the number of bedrooms per acre would be exempt from the bylaw.

Speaking with the board at its meeting on Monday, attorney Robert H. Ament said the bylaw, as written “would be very bad for the economy” due to limitations on future growth.

However, board member John B. Waterbury, who led the effort to draft the bylaw over the past year, explained that even the most sophisticated wastewater treatment can only remove 90 percent of nitrogen.

Because the treated effluent has to be discharged elsewhere in the watershed, the town needs to ensure that that discharge does not cause any estuary to exceed the Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) mandated by state law.

“One consequence of sewering is that if there are no rules, development goes berserk,” Dr. Waterbury said.

Homes or estuaries?

The issue boils down to placing limits on development in order to safeguard the estuaries. Falmouth may end up paying $250 million to connect sewer mains from Little Pond to Seapit peninsula with the Blacksmith Shop Road treatment plant, in the proposed first phase of a project to sewer the entire town.

One problem with the bylaw that Mr. Ament didn’t mention is that it assumes the town will choose to install a large-scale sewer system. Unless town meeting members are also asked to approve the Comprehensive Wastewater Management Plan (which selectmen haven’t even voted on yet), consideration of this bylaw would be premature in April.

Mr. Ament suggested that instead of meeting a per-bedroom or capacity limit, homeowners be allowed to install denitrification equipment in order to meet a certain per-gallon nitrogen limit.  He added that special consideration should be given to non-residential establishments, especially schools, churches, and science institutions that offer a public benefit.

This blogger might add that affordable housing, like the proposed Spring Bars Road and VFW Hall projects, should also be exempt. Managing development should not come at the expense of residents who make less than the median income. Limiting the number of bedrooms allowed per acre would ensure that housing density remains low, thus keeping the housing prices high.

Setting a standard, without “toilet police”

The board of health appeared receptive to the idea of setting a nitrogen output standard, rather than requiring homeowners who want to build an addition or another house on an acre lot to get a variance.

Homeowners could achieve the standard inexpensively by installing a composting toilet, which removes human waste from the equation altogether. The nitrogen breaks down over time, resulting in a small amount of material which then can be disposed of in the trash, buried in a non-edible garden, or turned into fertilizer by professionals.

A Hatchville couple, Hilde Maingay and Earle Barnhart–who have appeared frequently in this blog and in the Enterprise– say that they remove almost all their household nitrogen output by using a composting toilet, composting food scraps or feeding it to chickens, and being careful to use biodegradable, low-nitrogen/phosphorus cleaning products.

They have challenged board of health member George Heufelder to test their septic tank for nitrogen content. It would be interesting to see the results, if that plan moves forward.

Perhaps with a few small changes in each household, we wouldn’t need a sewer system– nor a nutrient management bylaw.

But he is not stopping in Falmouth for long: shortly after Christmas, Febos will hit the road in his Rabbit, armed with nothing more than a camera, a laptop, and a tank full of vegetable oil.

Combining his interest in low-impact living with a quest to find other people who are setting that example, Febos plans to drive across the country in his vegetable oil-powered car.

With a binder of information as a road map, he plans to visit at least 35 sustainable projects in urban and rural locales, hoping to gain insight and inspiration into how society can design itself according to ecological principles.

In what may be viewed as a modern-day version of Jack Kerouac’s On the Road, Febos plans to blog his way across America.

I’m documenting the life process of living more sustainably and happily, while minimizing my use of resources and assessing my impact on the blog. The idea is to inspire people to see how others are making their lives more sustainable with fun, cool projects. That way people can see how they can make changes in their lives.

-Barry Febos

Creating, not consuming

For Febos, repurposing waste products into useful materials is a way of life—and a form of artistic expression.

His journey began in October with a “live-in” exhibition in a Baltimore gallery, entitled “Moving to Utopia: unpacking a quest for a more sustainable life,” a slogan that is also stenciled onto the side of the Rabbit.

Living in the gallery for a week, Mr. Febos depicted his planned journey through photos, drawings, maps, and video, while cataloguing his possessions and “auctioning off” the items he deemed unnecessary. He plans to do a version of this show in New Orleans, and another when he returns to Falmouth.

His previous art projects have included making notebooks out of plastic bags and paper that had been printed on one side, making windows out of glass bottles, and a hammock made of used fabric and plastic bags.

One man’s food is another man’s fuel

While working on community art projects in Baltimore, Febos started to get interested in the mechanics of biodiesel engines a couple years ago. He bought the Rabbit, already equipped with a vegetable oil conversion system built into it, and started imagining the possibilities.

“Having a vehicle that runs on veggie oil seemed like a way to creatively use other people’s waste,” he said.

Though diesel engines can run on straight bio-diesel, using discarded vegetable oil requires a few additional steps, said Febos.

First, one has to find a source of oil. Usually, restaurants and fast-food establishments have to pay to dispose of the used oil, and are only too happy to have someone take it off their hands, he said. A classified-type website, Fillup4free.com, is another source for finding free or cheap waste oil.

Once he collects 10 gallons to fill a separate fuel tank, the oil must then be filtered to remove any food particles or water.  Febos has constructed a simple filtration system using plastic buckets and fine-meshed cloth.

He plans to have several gallons of oil filtering while he drives—so as to avoid running out of fuel with no McDonald’s in miles.

Bio-diesel mechanics

One issue with a built-in conversion system is that diesel engines cannot start with vegetable oil, and the car must be warmed up completely before switching over to the bio-diesel source. Therefore, the Rabbit has a regular fuel tank for starting the car and flushing oil from the fuel lines during the last few miles of each journey, Febos said.

“The conversion system is not as good for driving locally. For a three- to four-mile trip it doesn’t really work,” he said.

Mr. Febos plans to take the southern route across the United States, where warmer temperatures should make the oil less likely to congeal. He said the Rabbit gets up to 50 miles per gallon while running on either regular diesel or vegetable oil.

In addition to getting an MPG that rivals hybrid vehicles, running a car on veggie oil benefits the environment in a number of ways.

According to the non-profit educational organization, NOLS, running your car on recycled veggie oil:

• Makes us more energy independent. As long as people eat French fries, there will always be an oil source. Plus, your tailpipe will give off the pleasant odor of fried food, instead of toxic fumes!
• Reduces our dependence on oil from foreign sources or environmentally sensitive areas.
• Does not release sulfuric acid (SO2) into the atmosphere, one of the main causes of acid rain.
• Reduces our carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 78%.
• Produces 48% less carbon monoxide, a poisonous gas, than regular diesel fuel.
• Creates 48% less asthma-causing particulate matter, and 80% less cancer-causing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH’s) than petroleum diesel.

Connecting the dots

The first stop on Febos’s itinerary is just a few miles from his parents’ home. Having received some guidance on biodiesel vehicles from Joseph L. Hackler, a member of the Alchemy Farm Neighborhood Association, Febos plans to start his blog with a post about the agricultural and renewable energy projects at Alchemy Farm, home of the former New Alchemy Insitute.

Other highlights of the journey will include the Germantown Community Farm in upstate New York, where a fellow Falmouth native, Kaya Weidman, is working on starting up a community radio station, WGXC.

He also plans to visit a shanty boat project in Providence, Rhode Island, where a group has created something like a floating ark, complete with a vegetable garden and chickens and ducks on board.

Farther south, Febos plans to visit intentional communities in Virginia and Tennessee, staying for a while in each place to blog and contribute to projects. He also plans to visit the Project M Lab’s Rural Studio in Greensboro, Alabama, where designers tackle problems and find solutions for poor communities.

“I’m still learning. I want to see and participate in what people are doing, so that later I’ll have the resources to make things happen,” Febos said.

Given that its now easier to find oysters from Duxbury and mussels from Prince Edward Island than it is to get locally-sourced seafood, this locovore’s dilemma begs the question: which came first? The shellfish or the septic system? The problem or the solution?

Sometimes, when overhearing discussions among wastewater experts, the idea is floated that Cape Cod should try to get back to 1619– that is, before Pilgrims landed on these shores.

Though it took until roughly 1990 for humans to load the estuaries with enough nitrogen to kill small fish, the basis for the idea is that we should limit our inputs to the environment to basically zero, just as the native Wampanoag did.

Here's what eel grass should look like

In the past three decades, we have developed our communities to the point where the nitrogen leaching from household septic systems and fertilized lawns has caused our beloved estuaries to seriously decline.

Across the entire Cape, algal blooms clog and stink up the water, leading to unpleasant swimming and boating experiences– and signaling a major ecological disaster.

A lack of eel grass is often the first sign that nitrogen loading has tipped the scales towards an unhealthy estuary. As nitrogen seeps in with the groundwater, it causes algae to grow– and infamously, bloom, when summer temperatures heat up.

Not only is it yucky to look at, algae blocks the sunlight needed by eel grass, causing a rapid decline for this aquatic plant species– as well as the shellfish that grow on its blade and stems.

Dying eel grass: a familiar sight in Falmouth harbors

As the algae dies off, it sucks up the oxygen in the water. If the die-off is extensive, it can cause dissolved oxygen levels to get so low that fish die– or swim to less suffocating areas.

The less lucky marine creatures– snails, worms, and shellfish– are not mobile, and tend to die at much greater rates than fish.

So how do we get back to the way it was in 1619? The state, through the Massachusetts Estuary Project, has set daily maximum nitrogen loading (TMDL) targets that we’ll need to achieve to restore the estuaries, but does not offer any guidance on how to get there.

We need only take a lesson from nature to understand how the nitrogen cycle has balanced itself out over millennia.

A bi-valve solution

While towns on Cape Cod brace themselves for a lengthy, costly, and energy-intensive installation of a sewer system, some residents have taken a back-to-the-Earth approach.

Drawing on his 30 years as an aquaculture consultant with the World Bank, Woods Hole resident Ron Zweig thinks that the solution to the Cape’s water woes could be staring at us from our dinner plates.

Mr. Zweig’s experience with aquaculture in Southeast Asia and at the New Alchemy Institute in Hatchville corroborate the findings of numerous studies establishing the ability of shellfish to filter and remove nutrients (mainly nitrogen and phosphorus) from water and suspended sediments.

A Falmouth Shellfish Cooperative cage, used for growing oysters in deep water.

A 2006 study of aquaculture in Waquoit Bay by WHOI’s Marine Policy Center found that 500 oysters and quahogs removed 0.1 kilograms of nitrogen per liter from the water, and an additional 0.1 kg from the sediment underneath the growing tray per year.

According to Mr. Zweig, one oyster, on average, is capable of removing 0.65 milligrams of nitrogen per year during two years of growth.

If grown on an exponential scale, aquaculture could potentially meet TMDL targets, especially if the inlets to some coastal ponds are also widened.

In a spreadsheet analysis of four coastal ponds in Falmouth facing Vineyard Sound, Mr. Zweig recommends setting aside 8-9% of Bournes Pond, Great Pond, and Green Pond for aquaculture, and about 22% of the heavily polluted Little Pond, in order to meet the state-mandated TMDL’s.

Getting Aqua into the Culture

While these studies may be little more than numbers on paper, Mr. Zweig is working with members of the Falmouth Shellfish Cooperative, four companies that hold aquaculture permits in Buzzards Bay, to turn his hypotheses into action.

The Cooperative is currently working on a proposal to start up aquaculture plots in one or several of Falmouth’s coastal ponds. Not only would a more inland location make it easier for the farmers to get to their oyster cages, the development would also serve as an experiment on the potential for shellfish to remove nitrogen.

If successful, the Cooperative estimates that expanded aquaculture operations could create or maintain 165 permanent jobs in Falmouth, while restoring 3,700 acres of shellfish habitat.

An aquaculture site in Buzzards Bay operated by the Falmouth Shellfish Cooperative.

This summer, the Cooperative plans to market their first batch of the Sippewissett Oyster, sold straight from their retail location on Coonamessett Farm. With a fledgling mechanism already in place to put Falmouth’s seafood on the map, the oyster farmers say there is much more room to expand.

In Mashpee, Shellfish Warden Richard York hopes to build on the success of an aquaculture program he started in Mashpee River. The Mashpee Enterprise reports that Mr. York is writing a $75,000 grant to purchase, propagate, and plant 10 million quahog seeds in Waquoit Bay. Quahogs, he says, are ideal for aquaculture because of their resistance to predators.

Even if only half of the quahogs survive to maturity, the initiative will generate up to $750,000 in revenue, enough money for 15 shellfishermen to make a decent living, estimates Mr. York.

It may just turn out that doing the right thing for the environment is also good for the economy– and for our appetites.

The downside of aquaculture

However, the simple solution is not always the easiest. As Cape Codders know well, changes intended to solve environmental problems (think wind turbines) often come with a serious backlash from stakeholders.

The Marine Policy Center quantified the costs and benefits to aquaculture not only from the nitrogen removal angle, but also from the point of view of recreational users of Waquoit Bay.

Due to the potential “aesthetic costs” caused by exposed aquaculture gear at low tide, as well as decreased area for boating, the Marine Policy Center estimated that 1.5% of the head of Waquoit Bay could be used for aquaculture without negative consequences.

One additional issue that aquaculture does not address is the need for a wastewater solution that removes not only nitrogen, but a range of “contaminants of concern” from products consumed and eliminated by humans, now concentrated in your drinking water.

A typical composting toilet: the only difference is the pipe.

Even if shellfish were capable of filtering and sequestering aspirin, Viagra, and shampoo chemical residues from the water, would that solve the problem? (And would you want to eat them?) Or does it just point to a larger question: why are we contaminating fresh drinking water with our waste?

In my humble opinion, we need a variety of options to deal with our wastewater worries. If it is not conceivable to place aquaculture operations in coastal ponds on the scale necessary to remove the entire nitrogen load, it would be wise to eliminate the main cause of the contamination: septic tanks.

Even on a small scale, aquaculture can likely eliminate nitrogen released from non-point sources, namely fertilizer and road run-off. And by installing household composting toilets, we would eliminate at least half of the nitrogen load, while also pre-empting contamination by other, potentially very harmful, chemicals.

They came to learn advanced satellite imaging techniques, and left at the end of September with maps that will help their countries manage their forests and take part in a potential global carbon credit trading system.

The pan-(bio)mass challenge

The WHRC is leading an effort to create the first pan-tropical biomass map that will demonstrate the future effects of deforestation and land use change across the globe. This information is key in developing the Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) policy initiative being negotiated under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

Mukund Srivastava (left), of the Indian Forest Survey, works with Tina Courmier of the Woods Hole Research Center and Abel Siample of the Zambia Forestry Department, to develop a map that shows the land use and carbon-sequestration capacity of India.

Under the REDD system, countries like the United States that emit a large amount of greenhouse gas could purchase carbon credits from countries like Gabon that have a lot of forest, but need cash to continue to protect it.

The system is also designed to encourage countries like Kenya to build up its forests, reversing the trend of deforestation that threatens to increase not only global carbon emissions, but also the ability of its citizens to grow food and find safe drinking water.

Using the maps, governments and tropical forest stakeholders will be able to monitor and track changes to land cover, helping inform policy decisions, said Joseph Kellndorfer, a WHRC scientist co-leading the pan-tropical mapping effort.

Tropical deforestation is estimated to be the cause of about 17 percent of man-made global carbon emissions, which makes it an easy target for combating climate change, said Dr. Kellndorfer.

“These maps give us a first estimate of what we’re talking about trading,” he said.

As the scholars taking part in the workshop indicated, deforestation is caused by a variety of factors. While logging is an obvious source, agricultural expansion—exacerbated by population pressures and a turn to the cultivation of cash crops—is also taking a major toll on tropical forests across Africa and Southeast Asia.

In Colombia, a decades-long guerilla war is having an impact even in remote forests; in Bolivia, hydroelectric projects threaten to flood the lush jungle of the Amazon basin.

The forest for the trees

Poverty is the number one barrier to forest conservation, said Edward Ssenyonjo, a remote sensing specialist with the Ugandan National Forest Authority. “More than 80 percent of people depend on the natural environment, mainly forests, to survive. This is compounded by a population growth [rate] of 3.2 percent,” he said.

His colleague, Abel Siample, of the Zambia Forestry Department, said that investment in alternatives to charcoal production and agricultural expansion are the only way to stop encroachment in protected forests.

Joint forest management committees in Zambia and India are giving disenfranchised people a say in how REDD funds are distributed, said Mukund Srivastava, of the Indian Forest Survey.

With a structure based on equality for women and the rural poor, these committees are developing a model so that a portion of REDD revenue returns to the community to attract tourism or sustainable industries and build up infrastructure.

People realize it when they hit the wall, and there is no more forest, but they cannot stop without alternatives. It’s a human dilemma: we do not change our behavior until it becomes too late.

-Nadine Laporte, associate scientist

However, said WHRC associate scientist Nadine Laporte, throwing money at the problem is not a sure way to protect diminishing forests. Sensitive to the socio-economic hardships that people in developing countries face, she is working with the scholars to find solutions to deforestation while meeting the needs of impoverished people.

“In Africa, deforestation is done by people who are trying to feed their families,” said Dr. Laporte, pointing out that people are driven to cut down the forest in a quest to find wood for cooking and heating.

Think global, act local

Peter Ndunda, of the Green Belt Movement, and WHRC Associate Scientist Nadine Laporte go over Peter's map of Kenya

Although REDD was not adopted by the UNFCCC Conference of Parties that met in Copenhagen last December, Dr. Laporte said it is only a matter of time before a global carbon-trading system is in place.

Already, there are several bilateral agreements in place between developing nations and high carbon-emitting countries and states. Progress on REDD achieved in Copenhagen will continue at the next COP meeting in Cancun, Mexico, starting in late November.

Shifting the focus of international climate talks to helping communities and developing nations solve their own problems, the field survey sessions that Dr. Laporte and her colleagues take part in reach some of the most rural or forested areas in the world.

Community capacity-building is the name of the game for Peter Ndunda, a GIS specialist with the Kenyan Green Belt Movement (GBM), a non-governmental organization founded by Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai.

By building up tree nurseries and embarking on a nationwide tree planting campaign, the GBM has been able to stem the trend of deforestation in part of Kenya. In addition, GBM offers civic and environmental education programs that help people understand how forests help retain soil and water, thereby supporting food production and safe drinking water.

A map of Kenya's forest cover shows the GBM's progress, but huge areas in the east remain deforested.

While GBM has made great strides in the last 20 years, the biomass map Mr. Ndunda created at WHRC shows how much further the country has to go.

Indeed, great swaths of Kenya were colored in brown on his map, indicating low forest cover; while the green areas where GBM is active nonetheless indicate that human activity has spilled over the boundaries of designated conservation areas.

“How do you help communities increase their yields without compromising future generations?” Mr. Ndunda asked.

With additional income from REDD, communities will have the time to wait for the trees to grow, while also improving their farmland, he said.

“REDD provides a great opportunity to help resolve the global challenge of poverty. This is a huge economic and ecological benefit that we cannot quantify.”

If you teach a man to map…

Nguyen Hanh Quyenv, of the Vietnamese Academy of Science and Technology, works on a biomass map that she says will help her country develop forest conservation policies

Some of the scholars taking part in the WHRC workshop were able to create a map of the forest cover as well as the biomass capacity of their country.

Using readily-downloadable data from free sources like Google Earth–as well as sophisticated software and the 160 processing systems owned by the WHRC– the scholars were able to create forest-cover maps of their entire country with a 15-meter resolution, and biomass maps with 500 meters resolution.

Another benefit offered through the WHRC program is the use of satellite radar imaging, a powerful tool that can penetrate the cloud cover that tends to persist over tropical forests, Dr. Kellndorfer said.

That way, forest managers will have more accurate “snapshots” of a forest region, without gaps in data due to cloud cover.

That was a difficulty for Edersson Cabrera, a remote sensing expert with the Colombian ministry of the environment. Though he has been collecting data on the country’s diverse range of forests for the past two decades, thick cloud cover in some years led to gaps in knowledge about how land use had changed over time.

Eric Armijo, of the Friends of Nature Foundation in Bolivia, said the maps he is working on with the WHRC will give his organization the tools it needs to make sure conservation policies are in place— and working.

“It’s a powerful way of pushing the decision-makers,” he said.