Cape Cod Has a Big Problem Simmering Just Below Its Surface
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- čas přidán 11. 02. 2024
- "There’s going to be bad smells. There’s going to be fish kills. There’s going to be a lot of algae getting entangled in your boat, in your propeller, in everything. And it’s not a nice view, you know.... So in a way, we’re decreasing the value of the land, which is precisely the same value that brought people here to enjoy an enjoyable summer."
The "yellow tide" under the Cape is rising. So...what is it? - Věda a technologie
The old septic systems are a huge issue, but there also needs to be tougher regulation and enforcement of fertilizer usage on lawns and golf courses.
Also, right by the MBL, is a summer camping spot that that is using an antiquated septic system. The last few years have seen excessive bacteria in and around that area. The beach is often closed or warnings are posted. I completely agree that septic systems placed tens of feet from the shoreline doesn’t help.
Listen, they're wrong when they say this problem is due entirely to human urine and not agriculture. Every household has a big lawn which I guess gets composted or burned or something after cutting, and the other half of Cape Cod is covered in golf courses. Don't be fooled, there's lots of agriculture and fertilizer use destroying Cape Cod, and when the pesticides reach high enough levels you'll see the lobsters killed too. Not only that but the baseline nitrogen of the entire ocean is probably higher than it used to be, mainly due to modern agriculture.
Nitrogen run off from fertilized lawns are a major problem.
It's most definitely run off from the application of nitrogen on the lawns and golf course are HUGE contributors. Saw it happen to my pristine little creek after homes were built upstream. Suddenly there was algae in abundance. Most of the crayfish population didn't survive.
You mean houses w/ lawns but no people living and peeing in them?@@katiekane5247
Same with Chesapeake where I live, run off is no lauphing matter. Just drive by a lowes on a spring Saturday, so much fertilizer sold. It all ends up in a stream, a creek, a river, a bay.
yea I don't believe the nutrient run off from agriculture can be dismissed. it's much too impactful
How much nitrogen is running off of those massive, unsustainable lawns at the mansions, I wonder?
It's a fair question, and fertilizer runoff from rich people isn't nothing, but every single human eating a typical western diet emits an average of 13 grams of nitrogen *per day* into the environment. It quickly adds up.
Yeah, that's a lot. Thanks.@@gplustree
Ask Obummer
The mansion lawns _and_ the gold courses. Fckin rich people
In our area we have ponds and coves with no farms or massive lawns and the ponds have high nitrogen levels. Many people underestimate the amount of nitrogen the human body can produce in a day. If there are areas covered with massive lawns and golf courses the town can place restrictions on the use of fertilizers.
I grew up on a large lake in Minnesota in the 1970s. We had the same problem. Every house had their own septic system. Some of the older homes piped their raw sewage straight into the lake! The city brought in a sewer line and all houses were mandated to hook up to it. Just bite the bullet and do it, Cape Cod.
Eck! My Dad remembers seeing raw sewerage going right into the Merrimack River (which empties into the Atlantic) in Hudson,NH in the 1940s or 1950s. We web screwing with Miter Earth a long long time.
Thankfully, the mighty Merrimack has been rescued many years now.
Same in Puerto Rico, the government has just begun dredging and clearing land. The estuary was destroyed, they’re rebuilding it now and from what I understand they will only allow a handful of homes to remain.
@@granitestater1029 still very common in Mississippi but it just flows into ditches along the roadway...
It's a painful and expensive transition, from home septic to a unified wastewater collection and treatment system for every household and business.
Many areas in other parts of the country did this decades ago.
The longer you wait, the more it will cost.
And no matter what, many residents will complain.
And what are the consequences of those huge treatment plants? They construction of them waste resources too. How about composting the waste above ground? It is amazing how little can accumulate from a family of three in a year. And that with no chemicals added to the environment and no use of extracting resources from the earth to build them. Many people with !/2 an acre can do this on the cape. It takes very little space to conpost human waste. And at the end of the day, it would restore awareness of how our bodies work. Those that want to have their waste flushed away to be taken care of by someone/something else can do so, but dont force those that KNOW that composting human waste on their property, is the best and simplest way should have the choice.
@@RebDalmas Be realistic. Most people aren’t going to start composting their waste.
The Cape has become one huge drainfield.
Lived on the Cape in the 70s and moved away in '83 as a major building boom was happening. From West Barnstable. People said then that this would occur. That too much tourism is detrimental to such a delicate ecosystem aa the Cape. It's like Myrtle Beach there now and you see the result. It was amazingly unique and beautiful in the 70s.
Yet they MADE residents upgrade their systems to meet Title V constraints knowing it wasn’t going to avert this problem
You should have seen the Cape in the 50s and 60s . It was pristine.
As a society, we are not comprehending just how SMALL the Earth is for 8 Billion people to be doing SO MUCH abusive stuff to the environment! We are crapping in our own fish tank and the filter cannot keep up!
It always reminds me of the quote from the movie Interstellar (2014) in post-apocalyptic times, John Lithgow's character reflects on his life before life as we know it ended: "When I was a kid, it seemed like they made something new every day. Some, gadget or idea, like every day was Christmas. But six billion people, just imagine that. And every last one of them trying to have it all."
@@kayleighgroenendal8473Made in China, burning coal for power.
@@billpetersen298 Borders are imaginary. China is literally on the same planet as YOU, they are your fellow human and nothing separates us. Pointing the finger at other people, is so helpless. It doesn't fix the problem, it only imagines a new one that doesn't exist. "Once you've cut down the last tree and you've caught the last fish, only then will you realize that you cannot eat money".... Whatever excuse you're using to avoid blame, is the worst excuse. It's not about "Us vs. them", it's literally us VS DEATH AND DESTRUCTION.
So true...blaming china has become really popular these days.Cheap excuse for facing the consequences that a real change may cause.@@kayleighgroenendal8473
@@kayleighgroenendal8473 I agree with you. Consuming less, polluting less, means doing what we can to reduce consumption. The easiest first step, to reduce harm, is to not buy Chinese products.
I lived in East Boston and Hyannis Port back ~1986, the sewage was piped out just a little ways, the whole inward side was covered in human waste and people were still out there digging clams. That was the same time as the medical waste from NY area was washing up on the outside cape. I read in the paper back then that they were "thinking" of making the pipe longer. Oh, and the rain storms really dump it off the streets then into the Boston Harbor. My girlfriend wouldn't even let me touch the water to feel the temperature. I was in awe of how calm the Atlantic is up there. The best was The Channel Night Club and the tiny school house where Little Bo-Peep or some other tail was said to be written.
It's just a short piece, so you can't cover everything, but it's important to note that urine is great agricultural fertilizer and shouldn't be wasted in the first place. Synthetic nitrogen is energy intensive and ruins the soil's ability to sequester carbon. There is the issue of pharmaceutical drugs in urine. I'm not sure if it's feasible to remove them before applying urine to crops.
The French had the same problem in Brittany about 20 years ago Their nitrogen was from fertilizers. They solved their it somehow.
I grew up on tidal salt water marshes just south of Boston. I am concerned for the health and well being of earth and humans .
I live on cape cod, and this is all 100% facts
So do I. In Falmouth where these scientists work. It’s a nightmare.
Mid-Cape here my opinion
This is what my Dad said would happen. So if we're going to save her we must help her 🐬🤗
How wonderful to hear some residents are willing to take on the issue themselves as a more centralized infrastructure is developed. Those willing to step up right now and help. Rather than just complain how much it's going to cost them! There are good people out there !
this was greatly insightful. most of the eutrophication being caused by urine came as a pretty big surprise to me; I just assumed it would've been the result of fertilizer as it usually is. the irony in harping on about upfront costs is that it's only going to get more expensive the longer they wait. in a just society, doing the right thing would never be cost dependent.
Thank you for your efforts.
It is rather gross to actually know you are swimming/ boating/ living in you and your neighbours toiletting.
Charming.
Just like Venice, Italy. 🙃So, it's not like humans haven't had earlier examples of this.
Welcome to Cape Crud! Do not eat the fish or crabs
Makes me want to visit… NOT!
um ... you left out drinking it
I think "living in" covers drinking it, especially if you consider evaporation and clouds of piss falling as rain - the acid rain of the 21st century.
Isn't living on the overpopulated east coast wonderful? 🤣🌊🌧☔
Cape Cod has encouraged tourism but has not complied with standards of today for the proper, sustainable treatment of sewage/waste water. 😮
Florida of the north. This problem and other similar pollution is growing like kudzu around the US. Many municipalities are frozen like deer in the highlights as the radicalized courts continue to elevate the greed and arrogance of a wealthy individual above the common good for all.
Corruption corruption corruption
Not to mention all the yellow journalism depicting those trying to fight the corruption as card carrying communists, leftists, democrats, are the Myriad of other things they'll throw at them
In Arizona they've figured this crap out long ago and the initial billions in investment was cheaper than trying to retrofit later on. Our wastewater and reclamation systems are state-of-the-art and we recycle 99 percent of residential and commercial wastewater. Our golf courses and artificial lakes use only greywater and, in most cities, grass is only watered with graywater and rainwater collected in retention basins. When California and Nevada are freaking out over the Colorado River Compact, we quietly continue to refill our aqueducts and bank 40 percent of our allocated water from the 1922 compact. It's the policy to always tell the public the sky is falling so they understand EVERY drop is precious. The public wouldn't believe the amount of infrastructure, engineering, and labor in place each time they flushed the toilet.
This happens when seasonal homes are turned into year ‘round residential.
The Cape used to almost cease to exist after Labor Day.
Now it booms 24/7/375.
Only district/town sewer or onsite package treatment plants will stop this.
Drinking water will ALSO be affected.
@@WhhhheatThins
This was an issue in Plymouth County along any of the freshwater ponds at least two decades plus ago. High density small lot size.
I don't recall any use restrictions on how many people could reside in a residential cabin either.
They started doing dye tests, when it got really out of hand to find the worst systems, which then had to be converted to pumped holding tanks or package treatment plant.
It's actually a nationwide/global problem in areas of private septic high density areas.
it already is. ask those people who've been poisoned by cape drinking water all these years. not good.
The earth has slowed down in its orbit around the sun ?
The cape is dead from October - May. Literally everything is closed. I live in Barnstable. You have no idea what you are talking about.
@@greapper1
Barnstable isn't exactly touristy. More of a vacation/second home, or it was before I left for the other coast.
Even out here in the wild west, septic requirements have changed or gone to muni sewer due to high nitrate levels.
Um, how about the *more than 3 dozen golf courses* in the area???
43 total on the cape
Same problem on Aquidneck Island, about 50 miles WSW of The Cape. We have the same result here too -- cyanobacteria blooms closing beaches in the summer, and thick rafts of algae and seaweed washing ashore.
The great white shark and seals are really loving the cape over the last few years.
Lol. Extremely Expensive.
Four families in Chatham could pay for it and not miss a financial beat. 10 million dollar homes occupied for 1 month a year.
"How we gonna pay for it!?!!???"
The bougeoise truly have pulled the wool.
I live in Chatham. I'm a contractor, always a pay period or two away from bankruptcy. We work on those McMansions for a living. I have a two bedroom house, and it's just me and my wife living here. I don't use any fertilizer, just mulch the clippings back in. It's going to cost me the same 10 or 12 thousand bucks to hook up to the sewer as one of those 5 million dollar houses. Just 15 years ago, they made me spend 15 grand for a new Title 5 septic system, and size it for a 5 bedroom house! We're not all Daddy Warbucks down here.
So what you are saying is that the Cape has become an unabated septic field! And within a few decades, it will be the equivalent of a swimming pool that is never cleaned out.
How about the lawn fertalizer? Talk about nitrogen. Also herbacides and inscectacides too. Its dumped on lawns right to the waters edge. The runoff from over watering runs right into the storm drains then into a pond, lake or bay. I started to notice a change in the bays when the companys like chemlawn started in the late 70s, earlu 80s. The eel grass started to disapear then the bay scollops. I live near Buttermilk and Little Buttermilk Bay. Ive been quohoging Little Buttermilk about 25 yrs. The alge is so thick ya cant rake through it. The botom life is suffercating. Almost all the homes ya see from the water have heavely treated lawns, some right to the water. Oh dont leave out all the golf courses. We need to focus just as much on this isue as the sepic issues. We need to see the whole problem , not just one part of it.
Im very sad that Gods Creation has being wrecked to the point of no return. A beautiful green, weed free, bug free lawn is not worth the price of our water. God Bless.
One can't be putting GOD first with all this killing goin on aye? 🤔😔.
I second that. We are distroying all to please us, not God.@@iclite3656
Many of the people who live year-round on the Cape can’t afford a switch from septic tanks to sewer systems. Not only is it tens of thousands per household, but it also can take up to ten years for the town to convert. People assume that just because a town has wealth that it applies to the year-rounders, but it’s mainly the people with at least one vacation home. The latter can afford it, the former generally can’t. They’re barely able to stay there at this point even while working several jobs. So a sewer system in most of the towns that don’t already have one is a pipe dream (pun intended).
Ya, thanks Chamber of Commerce - - - although I'm a native, grew up on the Cape when there really was "salt sea air and sand dunes", I fled back in the early eighties - I still need to be on the Cape because I'm a long term business owner there which has no connection whatsoever to the Cape's tourism industry - the "year round" growth of the Cape along with it's attraction as a vacation destination has overwhelmed all of it's infrastructure including the problems being reported on here - - it's money, all about the tourist dollar that's lead to where the Cape is now - - everything at the core of the Cape is attracting that tourist dollar, again, great job Chamber of Commerce - thanks for turning my homeland into what I now consider to be a hell hole. When I finally retire from my current business you won't be able to pay me to cross either bridge - another financial issue as both bridges are in dire need of being replaced thanks to the enormous volume of traffic that no one could have predicted back when they were built - most of my family has moved off as well, I have one sister left that's so distraught trying to live there that she's currently viewing property in Pennsylvania. What a terrible shame - it's not that tourism is bad in and of itself, it's that it's been so completely overpromoted through the years leaving the true attractions of spending time there in complete peril, again, some of which is being reported in this video. As a child my home town had absolutely wonderful water straight from the tap - no longer - I'll take my poison in the plastic form as I'll only drink bottled water.
It's funny you blame money and business for ruining the cape, yet you state that money and business are the only reasons you stay. Gtfoh
yeah, I'm fine with you saying that - although I did start my business along with my Dad years before I moved off Cape and it isn't the kind of business that benefits much at all from all of the seemingly "uncontrolled" and encouraged growth - and - because it's such a niche business I feel obligated toward my customers to stay in business more so for them than myself, I'm well past retirement age - to think back over the years danceufo, the rapid growth has been somewhat scary to see and live through, untold square miles of wooded areas converted into developments at such an alarming pace not to mention the massive amount of growth along the sea shores. Although I'm not against growth in general, the pace makes one question - so it's not a wonder there's a wake of problems resulting. Here's a tid bit for you, if you live beyond the town of Eastham and you'd like natural gas for your home, can't happen, there's not enough of a feed coming across the canal to supply gas to those upper and outer areas of the Cape and that's in spite of the gas industry drilling under the canal in recent times in order to supplement the piping that already exists coming over the bridges under the roadway decks - I'm using this as an example of the overwhelmed infrastructure, not to mention that the roadway infrastructure is way behind the needs as well - and the lack of gas supply has nothing to do with the issue of Global Warming - but yeah, it's supply problem with rapid growth at the core of the problem. That is, the gas company trying to keep up with it's existing piping infrastructure let alone grow those supply lines to other areas. I can remember 30 or 40 years ago the gas company predicting gas supply all the way to Province Town, never happened despite a known demand. Anyway Danceufo, again, no offence taken, although my original comment was more about the tourist dollars - but anyway, the business thing aside, you can read between my lines and understand that I love Cape Cod, the real Cape, but yes, on the other hand I freely admit that I hate the Chamber of Commerce which is one of, if not, the primary power and driving force that's so dramatically changed the Cape for the worse and that my friend - is - all about the money. Which hell, even that's basically fine with me, money makes the world go round and I'm by no stretch a socialist, but, in this case, especially looking back two or three decades ago when there was so little consideration regarding environmental damage , all to the detriment of the beloved Cape Cod. Thanks for your reply I appreciate that you'd take the time to write it. Catch ya later! - @@danceufo9256
We used visit the Cape for a few weeks right before the season started. Now it seems like the season never ends. I'm glad to see people stepping up to the challenge with the new I/A septic systems. If getting a sewer system dug is going to take 30 years, they'll be neck deep in algae when they're half way through. I/A septic systems for outlying areas is a lot more realistic.
The best and simplest thing is to compost the waste. Why think in black and white? Composting the waste makes us more aware of what we are, and it uses less of earth's resources, and it is the best way to save water. I find it more concerning that we think only in terms of flushing our waste away than realizing it can be composted right in our back yards. if we really cared, we would realize our responsibility to do what is best rather than what is convenient based on ideas that your poopoo and peepee should be moved out of sight.
@@RebDalmas I don't think the technology is there yet. Urine isn't sterile like people think. And composting toilets just store it, because trying to compost it would put too much liquid and nitrogen into the system and cause the whole thing to stink. So a composting toilet it doesn't solve the problem at all.
And trying to get a household's urine to break down in the yard won't work at all because there's just too much liquid. You might get some of it to break down, but most of it will seep into the ground just like it's doing now. So it doesn't solve the problem at all. Cape Cod is basically an overgrown sandbar - very sandy soil. Most of the the liquid that goes into the ground ends up in ocean.
Having composted my own families waste, the urine was absorbed within using absorbent materials, of which there are many. This method uses basically no water - expect for cleaning the bucket. And, the absence of more plastic and concrete use, prevents consuming more of earths resources and more pollution. After all, the plastic pipes are leaving behind micro particles that are causing more and more damage. It is a time to return to smaller more individualized systems, begger not necessarily better, - as is being discovered all over the US. Especially with farming. I mean look, animals are peeing and shitting all over the place all of the time and yet the forests dont smell like urine and animals feces. Composting our human waste is probably much more efficient and much better for the environment. I never had a problem with the urine draining, it was absorbed by the matterials I used. Over engineered systems will only lead to the same problem, and end up polluting the environment with other products that leads to other problems. We keep doing the same thing again and again, and thinking somehow it will lead to a different outcome. I dont even want to think about what chemicals will be needed once cluster systems come. Bigger is not better. Simple is what works. @@darkwing3713
@@RebDalmas Sounds like a great system to use everywhere it works. But can it work for the average homeowner? Also, Cape Cod gets a massive tourist invasion every year.
Forests are amazing. Animal waste is just how a forest feeds itself. And forests hold onto far more water compared to a lawn or a corn field. I think that was the original inspiration for permaculture. Forests feed and water themselves - let's try and imitate that.
But a lot of Cape Cod forests are just pine trees growing out of an ancient sand bar, so I don't know if they hold onto water the way a normal forest does. Cape Cod soil is very permeable, and that's making the algae problem worse.
@@darkwing3713 For homeowners that live on the cape year round it could be used. Ti should be used as much as possible. We dont need more comment and plastic tubes everywhere, not to mention the products used which through politics eventually end up being some chemical with some patent that hides in " trade secrets." This has to stop as our environment are loaded with toxins.
I grew up there and it was fine until they put the Boston Outflow Pipe in. It's not the tourists, and Everyone on the lower Cape has a Title 5. MWRA's Massachusetts Bay outfall is the culprit.
Where does the sewage in Boston go to?
All wastewater collected by BWSC facilities is conveyed to the MWRA's Deer Island treatment plant where, after treatment, it is discharged 9.5 miles out into Massachusetts Bay.
I'd suggest testing the Deer Island treatment plant, and the sewage water where it comes out of the outflow pipe.
During heavy rain deer Island discharges untreated to deal with heavy inflow
That sounds right. We have a similar system in East Long Island- but it’s stable- if you added NYC waste I could only imagine
The best thing to do is to compost the human waste above ground. It uses less water and generates humus. IT is actually the only thing to do. We have to get over the illusive " convenience" of sending our poopoo and peep into a hole and allow it to decompose above ground. Such a system uses no water, allows human waste to decompose into a useful medium and builds environments for bugs. It needs very little space to do its magic AND is supports in MUCH MUCH less use of earth's resources to build all those septic systems that end up needing more chemicals that are then placed into the environment. The animals in nature constantly shit and pee onto the ground, where leaves and other natural debris absorb the " waste" and break it down. Over engineered systems lead to more and more problems, because they are unnatural.
This can easily be done too. The basic outhouse is the perfect example. How much more do people need? Little cost, mild inconvenience, great difference to our land & oceans. Come on people!! 😉👍❤
I have composed my waste and didn't deal with any strong urine smells, It depends on the medium used. Saw dust and other natural materials absorb the urine and it composts. Composting the human waster is much cleaner than using a toilet, and it uses no water, .. except to rinse out the bucket used. In my experience, composting is much cleaner, uses negligible water, and generates a great humus that can add to the top soil on the cape. Do we need any more chemicals on the cape, for these cluster systems,? Not to mention the resource use to build these systems. Composting our waste cuts back on the use of earth's resources. And, as I said, mediums can be used that absorb the urine and allow it to break down. As I said, I have done this and it worked beautifully. It is the way to go, for the earth and for the environment. @@sharisimonehampton5434
ON! ON CAPE COD. Damn thumbnail.
Is there anything we humans come into contact with that we don't destroy? I thought we were supposed to be the most intelligent species in the solar system? Arrogance and a false sense of superiority has doomed us all if we don't find a better way.
There's 8,000,000,000 on the planet today.
How many in 1620 when the white Europeans first colonized that area?
OF COURSE the naked apes have managed to screw everything up!
Homo sapiens is the smartest creature on the planet because Homo sapiens says so.
🎶🎶🎶"...maybe one day you'll understand why, everything you touch only dies😢... ONLY KNOW you Love her when you LET HER GO...🎶🎶🎶
So by the time they are done sea level rise will start taking back the cape.
Don’t hold your breath- that science is suspect
@@christinecollins6648to even call it science is suspect. In 1635 the tide swelled above 20 feet. In 1786 it rose to 16 feet. Ice ages come and go. The ice is still melting because we're on the tail end of an ice age. And what happens after it all melts? Another ice age!
I think he was being sarcastic so he or she probably agrees with you! 😂
Lived on Cape for 30years. Deal with pesticides and herbicides first--lawns and golf courses. When a house sells it is required to be title V. They refuse to allow alternative systems.
The overall problem is greed of politicians and corporations, this is not a new issue. Prop taxes on the Cape should be used to keep clean water--bays, streams and aquifer...don't forget the plumes from Otis--supposedly cleaned up
Same situation in the Hamptons of Eastern New York
Compost toilets are cheap and effective.
great film ty love the cape never go there miss the place
People are so quick to give up in order to dodge any kinda work or play hot potatoe with an urgent issue. That mess on the water is FREE fertilizer- no run off no Shipping delays its here in the US. Its gold for corn and several other crops. No not lettuce or brassicas but orchards- grains and nightshades will THRIVE.
Notice how the people most concerned speak with foreign accents. When you grow up in Europe and other places overseas you learn how valuable land, water and using both efficiently and safely really are for sustainable life.
I worked for Beach Maintenance for the DPW for a summer in Falmouth there is 9 beaches there. I witnessed the busiest beach in Falmouth have a septic backup once mid summer. It was on the tourist side of the beach and I could see the pee and floaters around little kids swimming.
Pallet loads of Fertilizer at your local Costco or Hardware store?
Septic and raw sewage during Storms will push the levels of Nitrogen past the threshold of healthy norms.
Put too many fish in an aquarium and you get similar results.
They either get sick , eat each other or die.
Thank You!!!
Also the Miami area soon, esp the suburbs like Homestead. They are all on septic tanks, and the water table is only a few feet below the surface right now.
The urine diversion was obvious to me. The urine can go into a tank which has a vent up high, so evaporation can take out most of the water and reduce the volume and then the container could be carted off and replaced with an empty one from time to time and the urea, phosphorus and such could be used for fertilizer.
But what about all the pharmaceuticals excreted in urine? Will that evaporate too? It's a complicated problem to clean up the me.sees we humans make. Cape Cod has a lot of money in that area and I think they should have gotten tough and dealt with this issue decades ago. There's always going to be some folks crying about the expense, but something has to be done.
From what I understand, that isn't accomplished in the community sewage systems either.
@@cherylalt101
I'm thinking maybe the urine can be deposited into a structure which could allow ultraviolet light from the Sun to hit it and break down the pharmaceuticals. This is just an idea. Chemists will have to play with and then maybe test the idea. It may well be that would create something worse. @@cherylalt101
Correct it’s exactly like what happened in Wisconsin great lakes what a disaster
Thanks for providing this important information. I thought lawn fertilizers were also part of the problem on the Cape. Alternative septic systems are not always welcomed in communities & I believe it's because they're not understood. The designs have Despite been around for many years & are successful if properly designed & installed.
If they didn’t test for heavy metals, they’re not serious scientists.
Nitrogen attracts Uranium leaching in the Midwest/Nebraska.
Many Cape Cod lakes and ponds do not have nearly the weeds they used to have in the 1980’s. We all know what weed killers and fertilizers do, it runs off into the ponds, but the lawns and cranberry bogs look great. There’s areas in my favorite CC lake that had acres of weeds that grew at 6’-10’ with lots of foraging fish, and those areas are mostly mud now and it’s been that way for a long time. I couldn’t tell you if it’s the cranberry bog, or if it’s the houses with manicured lawns, but they all use similar weed killers and fertilizers. Without the weeds to keep the pond balanced, I’d have to say that it doesn’t take a scientist to recognize the obvious. The cranberry bog side would always turn cloudy almost greenish during summer, the other side of the lake far from the bog would remain crystal clear, still does to this day. 🧐
Another thing that’s important for northern ponds is sustained 12” thick ice during the winter months which makes a lake live in complete darkness which kills off algae. Thick ice doesn’t happen much on cape cod these days. Global warming is natural and I’m not going to blame it on humans, the earth has been slowly warming for millions of years. There’s deserts with crustacean fossils on this earth, that all happened before humans populated earth. Plus the Feds nuked a hole in the ozone in the 1950’s, but blamed it on your Chevy truck.
Stay awesome my earthling friends!
Very well said. I’m glad you didn’t go there blaming humans for the cyclical climate of our planet. Been going on for millions of years but apparently people don’t want to hear facts. The cape has one million dollar house after another after another and so on. All with beautifully manicured lawns. But no it definitely can’t be from that. They say. Like the virus 1000% didn’t come from the Wuhan lab. And the vaccine will prevent you from getting the virus, hunter Biden laptop is Russian disinformation, should I go on. Too bad the people who need to hear this won’t give it a second
Great info!! Thanks! The bogs are suffering from the loss of deep freezes & some of the farmers are looking for a substitute. We are no longer the biggest producer of cranberries in the US.
Governor DeSantis and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection have approved $100M in State funding aimed at improving the quality of the water in the Indian River Lagoon. Dec 18, 2023. Save the Manatees ❤
We only think about what we WANT not what we DO
My 2 cents... Yes septic systems cause nitrogen runoff (pretty hard to deny it), lawns cause runoff too. Some but certainly not all of the places with large algae blooms are solely the result of issues caused by septic or fertilizer runoff. The main culprit in a lot of situations is the reduced water flow to these areas due to roads/culverts which were under designed to handle adequate water flow. A lot is being done to redesign culverts, but solely blaming Septic is somewhat biased in my humble opinion. I certainly don't deny there is a nitrogen problem though; I just think this article only touched upon 1 of many reasons for the problem.
This is the way to force more working people out of the Cape. The expense after hook up to a sewer system is OUTRAGEOUS! Our taxes should be used for these treatment plants.
Florida Keys same problem
I'm a Florida resident. In addition of the algae mentioned, there are flesh-eating bacteria in many places including fresh water estuaries. Unhealthful to swim, wade, or fish.
God Bless those people concerned about where their urine goes. SAINTS!❤️
These people need to study the way Earthships deal with sewage. They absolutely could fix the septic issues and it shouldn't be super expensive. And as a result they'd end up with a whole bunch of trees or plants that eat the nitrogen. No nutrients come out.
This isn’t just a Cape Cod problem. I live in ME, we are having similar issues with the Kennebec, for exactly the same reasons.
Informative and interesting.Money is the only thing in the way.
even in a best case scenario we are talking 20-30 years before remediation of this problem - you can say bye bye to the environment - even rich communities don't have the funds or resources never mind the political will or awareness needed to address this problem - a fairly mainstream pragmatic view and conclusion. They will address to some extent but likely it will be too little too late because the issue will be coupled with global warming issues which will double or triple the initial cost estimates - also very likely. #infrastructure in america - a shallow money tench and then there is a negative side
They absolutely have the money. 😊
@@GoingtoHecq the money is fungible and friable and the least of the problems - it is more of a political and infrastructure issue essentially - it will take 3-4x (maybe 10x) initial projections and be rife with corruption just like trash and concrete in nyc - these are certainties
Thanks.
you're welcome.
I cant help but wonder if this might be, in part, some kind of land grab for investors to take advantage of. If the government is going to require residents to spend a hundred thousand dollars each or more to rectify this problem, how many native born Cape Codders will have to sell the homes their grandparents built? You can bet the investors will be waiting to pay more than their asking prices like they do everywhere else. And are all those mansions and golf courses going to be made to stop all the pesticide and fertilizer use first? I doubt it. Something smells fishy...
Still cleaner than San Diego’s Tiajuana poo-tide
Totally agricultural...People gotta have their perfect lawns. Golf courses, residential landscaping. NOT from urine...
There needs to be tougher regulations about how close someone can build next to waterways on the cape. With greater housing density we could maintain population while improving wildlife habitat and increasing tourism if we get rid of single family dwellings right on the water.
- How many restrictions on building have Cape towns put in place? There seems to be building going on everywhere including big apartment complexes. Note: never drink CC tap water.
I thought there was a unified system everywhere in Arizona with the exclusion of the Mogollon Rim. We recycle 99 percent or our wastewater. However, my mother bought a home in an old 55 plus community where each home has a septic. Her upkeep on the system, for her small home, cost more than I pay for two single family homes.
Cool but the East was built literally 200 years earlier than Arizona so its not so simple.
FL has a lot of septic systems, even in the suburbs. My operating costs are minimal, just wish I could say the say for my water well.
Thank you for creating this informative video. We regularly visit and love the cape, and were planning to move there for our golden years. But after learning about this problem, not anymore. And that’s a good thing till the cape is conditioned to take in more residents.
😮, why don't you make a donation to help move it along?
@@iclite3656 whoa 😮 yeah you let me do the pondering of where MY money should go ok? THANKS
Mass Bay is heating up. Used to be a glacial bay, but now it's the warmest water in New England shore. They cleaned up the septic in most of the bay, but warming may make it not matter, because the old fauna won't survive the new warmth. They will die en masse and create the very same conditions as waste would. We're looking at the end of an era of great vacations.
If only cape cod wasnt so impoverished! Where will these marginalized people find the resources...
Have you never been here? The majority of people that live on the cape are lower middle class. Are you referring to the multimillion dollar homes? Most are seasonal
@user-ue5rr1iw7k of course the majority of the people aren't filthy rich. That would be a silly assertion, but a tremendous amount of the shore is multimillion dollar homes. Riddle me this. I'm lower middle class(hypotheticaly). I make about 80k. Can I afford a house on cape cod? So expensive shore real estate, and overvalued quote/unquote affordable housing and there isn't sufficient resources to deal with their own problems. Wastewater treatment isn't voodoo magic. Municipalities do this all the time. Suck it up, buttercup or stop complaining about the pee water, I say.
Ignorant sarcasm. Vast majority of Cape residents are working class folks in very modest homes who don't have the income to build new septic systems. The rest of the country only sees the coastal mansions owned by wealthy families who visit a few times a year.
Federal funds😊
TeeHeeHee 😂😂
There needs to be homescale and municipal scale biogas digesters to mitigate this problem.
Good luck!
I built the first house on Cape Cod with a compost toilet.
I always thought a simple septic design like having your toilets go into a separate tank that does not leach and would need to be pumped out when full, and the rest go into a smaller tank where solids from the kitchen sink would settle and then go into a leach field, would be a good option. Similar to the compost design that one couple had. it would certainly cost less than digging up all the roads and building pump stations. I understand it would mean changing some of the plumbing inside, but for people with a small house it shouldn't be too bad, the same vent pipe can be used. People shouldn't be forced to do this overnight, but when systems need replacing.
Grew up there. Left because all the people.
I grew up on Cape Cod too many years ago. We called the algie bloom red tide. It was a natural thing that happened every few years.
The problem is that this isn't an occasional "red tide" (which is a totally different algal problem) -- it's an ongoing, everyday, all-the-time overgrowth of green algae that is really messing up the ecological balance in the region.
Golf courses and suburban lawns are not "agriculture" (therefore, not a necessity for the country/region) *But both use a lot of pesticides!*
The rich people who now populate Cape Cod and the upper-middle class who visit (as opposed to the poor/relatively poor fishermen,
lobstermen, etc. who used to live there) are not dependent upon the well-being of estuaries and the sea (or, for that matter the very
sparse ... i.e. not good soil, for agriculture of the region)
The algae blooms are a problem in Plymouth and other towns north of the Cape too, in particular Blue-Green Algae which can kill children and pets.
Ask older visitors how people vacationed in the 60's and 70's. No lawns, no TV, few year round residences. Older generations lived simply so the land was able to recover. Now, we want our lattes and our golf courses. We abuse the place year round and the waterways do not lie. Instead of saving the planet, let's adjust our behavior and save Cape Cod.
Is there a way to verify where the nitrogen is coming from? Example: Is nitrogen running off the land from lawns and golf courses in a different form than the nitrogen in human urine? I don't think the video explained how the scientists figured this out.
A multiple billion dollar infrastructure project in Massachusetts… what could possibly go wrong!?
I understand how a composting toilet works, but how does a urine diversion system work? The folks with the urine diversion only mentioned storage, not processing the urine. Does someone come to empty the tank and take it to a processing facility or is there a way to clean the liquid waste onsite?
Urine diversion works by separating the liquid out to be evaporated into the air. Then, whatever crystals are leftover after that process (usually minimal amounts for a year's worth of 4 people) can be either composted with the rest of the solids or taken away by a septic company. Sometimes in an off-grid setup the urine can be diverted into a specially designed plant area, where certain types of plants feed well off of the diluted urine, taking out some of the nitrogen before sending it back into the ground, theoretically "treated." You can lookup "graywater garden" for a similar concept for shower and sink water, or check out the bathroom system in an "Earthship" house for better explanations. Also, there's a good book "The Composting Tioilet System Book" (Del Porto) that diagrams out how urine diversion works, etc..
on the bright side, if you do nothing maybe the average person could afford a home there.
How long have they known this? Yet have made residents upgrade to title V costing thousands of dollars and they did not know this? Very frustrating!
Live in Barnstable. The estimated cost to the homeowner is $30,000 that each homeowner has to pay out of pocket. The median family income for Barnstable is $89,304. The vast majority of homeowners here are retirees whose median income is far below $89,000. Many of them live solely off social security. It is not feasible to force everyone to pay for sewer upgrades.
Sorry folks, it's the beginning of the end. I grew up in the 80s. I fondly remember going to Cape Cod as a kid. None of the issues that plague the cape were an issue back in the day. To many people, in combination with drugs, sewage, and pesticides are ruining the Cape. Sometime soon, the cape will be like Revere Beach. Revere Beach was nice. Years ago, Red Tide and drugs moved into Revere Beach. Present day, Revere Beach smells like an open sewer in the summer. Junkies, bums, and punks leave trash and drug parafanilia in the sand. People are contaminating everything. One day, we won't be able to swim in the ocean or eat seafood. It's too bad, so sad.
Well you can swim whenever you want you just have to face the consequences of that decision. If anything back then the pollution regulations were in there infancy and hadn’t even begun to change waterways. Now some of the FORMER most polluted waterways in the U.S. are reaping the rewards of the decline of unchecked dumping of god knows what into the rivers. That river that was on fire in Ohio in the 70s or 80’s is now rebounded so…. The fish pollution side is old PCB’s from the 70’s 80’s. Have made their way up the food chain to the top and take lots of time to clear. And America is the cleanest or close for not polluting. It’s not America. It’s China, India Russia and the others. We could have zero emissions/pollution and absolutely nothing would happen cause China, India pollutes like a rampant disease. But believe the fake news
@@judd0112last year Falmouth hit the record of beach(ocean & ponds) closures. The ocean was effected on the North Falmouth side.
This wasn't much of a problem when people just used the bushes. 🤔
Wouldn't it be great if the EPA actually did what they are supposed to do (protect the environment) and force these communities to install waste water treatment plants and sewers? I guess our government employees are too busy on TicTok. How about sending polluters like that Mayor to prison? I bet the sewers would go in quickly then.
More like always being hampered by Republican policy and budget blockers. I could give you a list a mile long of all the times they have had theirs powers and budget slashed by deregulation policies, because you know, big Corp. should be unbridled. As they taught us, big business and capitalists know best.
😮 wow. I guess I was living in a Dream World🤦♀️. Thanks for the TRUTH. 👈
What about robots on wheels that are able to go under water and collect large amounts of Algae? Wouldn't that help eliminate excess amounts of Nitrogen and Nutrients until things get corrected?
All that algae could be harvested for fertillizer. Waste not, want not.
Wonder how much that 24' diameter outfall pipe from Boston contributes to the problem. Oh, but it's treated, yeah, that's what they tell you.
This is what happens in a country were basic public infrastructure is neglected by a system that doesn't care about anything except money and profits... In my "poor" "socialist" European country septic tanks are fully closed without any leaks to the environment or we have public treatment plants... But meanwhile the "richest" country on the planet (according to the Americans...), things work like in any other 3rd world country... I just wonder when the American people start to understand that they are not great on anything and quite mediocre on loads of stuff...?
Exactly. Profits are the only motive on all levels with no concern for the whole at all.
You should see their electrical work.
@@VanillaMacaron551 American electrical norms are completely outdated compared with the UE... I still find odd how in the US they still use metalic boxes and conduits for electicity, in Europe eveerything is on non conductive materials (plastic), a much safer option...
Americans can't understan that capitalism can't be left completely loose and free of regulation or you end up with a very unequal and destructive system when only profits count...
I like the old couples turd buckets and pee casks.
Funny thing is, it would probably close to fix the problem if everyone just pissed outside
Im doing my part!
Urinating outside or urinating inside means nothing when the volume of untreated waste is the same.
That likely isn't true. The urine going through the septic system travels below surface in the ground water and hits the ocean water. Urine placed on the ground likely gets seized by plants and bacteria near the surface and is bound up.@@bobhaze5324
Really well done video, thank you! I hope people will be open to an inexpensive alternative called Urine Diversion. Our urine is the major contributor to the nitrogen in our human waste.
it might be out of content, what with that big cup ??
Too many people in confined areas causes pollution dahh
Keep taking shit! 😂
It's working. Thank you for your video.
So they need to build sewer systems and have wastewater treatment facilities. Increase the real estate taxes to pay for it
Believe the science, not the scientists
I say update building code or zoning to require more sophisticated septic and any time a building is renovated they have to update their septic to bring it into conformity
They can’t connect to any sewer lines and there’s a building moratorium pretty much all over the cape. No or hardly any new construction. Just revamping supposedly outdated homes. And they just want to tear em down and build new where previous home was & they don’t want that anymore apparently. And they can’t just build vertically anymore. I can’t remember the exact new rules
😂 plenty of new construction in Falmouth & the neighboring towns. Monsterous homes that are vacant most of the times.
Cape cod is nice. If you've never been to a truly nice coastal area 😅