What are the sources of nitrogen to West Falmouth Harbor?
In analyzing N sources in the West Falmouth Harbor subbasin, Howes et al. (1992), the Buzzards Bay Project (1994), and ACI (1995) concur that the largest existing source of nitrogen in the West Falmouth Harbor watershed is the Falmouth Sewage Treatment Facility. In our 1994 study, the Buzzards Bay NEP estimated that the facility accounted for about 65% of the watershed loading with residential property, at 23%, being the second largest source (principally from septic systems and to a lesser extent lawns). The loading estimates for the Howes et al. and Project studies were based on a watershed subbasin delineated by the Buzzards Bay NEP in cooperation with USGS in 1991. This watershed was based on 10 ft groundwater contours. In this watershed delineation, Falmouth’s Solid Waste Disposal Facility (“landfill”) was just outside of the watershed boundaries, but because of uncertainties in the delineation, the landfill had been conservatively included in some loading estimates for the Harbor
