{"id":564,"date":"2024-01-07T14:08:10","date_gmt":"2024-01-07T14:08:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/barnstablespeaks.com\/?page_id=564"},"modified":"2024-02-23T12:38:39","modified_gmt":"2024-02-23T12:38:39","slug":"water-contamination","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/barnstablespeaks.com\/index.php\/water-contamination\/","title":{"rendered":"Water Contamination"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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water Contamination<\/h1><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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protecting our drinking water<\/h2>
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The source of water on the cape is fragile and must be protected.<\/p><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The Cape Cod Aquifer provides 100% of the Cape\u2019s drinking water, and for this reason has been designated a Sole Source Aquifer under the Safe Drinking Water Act by the Environmental Protection Agency.  The highly permeable aquifer deposits make the Cape Cod Aquifer one of the most productive groundwater systems in New England, but this also mean water supplies are susceptible to contamination from development and land uses within their watersheds. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Cape cod<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Freshwater lenses<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In certain inland areas, groundwater has great distances to travel before it reaches the shore. Over time, precipitation in these areas has led to an accumulation of recharge, which appears as a mound of higher elevation groundwater.  These mounds of groundwater are relatively thin and convex, and therefore are referred to as “lenses” of groundwater. Six separate lenses comprise the Cape Cod aquifer system, as shown here. Barnstable is within the Sagamore Lens.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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How cape cod’s aquifer works<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The aquifer is deeper further inland and becomes shallower near
the coastal edges, giving it a concave shape that resembles a
lens. Because freshwater is less dense than saltwater, the fresh-
water lens floats above the surrounding saltwater.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Threats to the waterways<\/h2>
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The proposed projects are located above our sole source aquifer and in well-protection designated areas. The Sagamore lens supplies all of Cape Cod\u2019s drinking water and in the event of a catastrophe, water quality or availability would be threatened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Contamination has already been a major issue, with the town spending 27 million dollars to clean up PFAS contamination of municipal water supplies from firefighting foam once used at the Barnstable County Fire Training Academy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Proposed Offshore wind projects<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Landing sites for high voltage cables<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Following the installation of Vineyard Wind\u2019s electric cables, carrying a total of 800 megwatts of electricity, under Covell\u2019s Beach and Barnstable\u2019s residential and commercial roads, the fight turns to the other proposed landing sites for these high-voltage cables, Craigville Beach and Dowses Beach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These cables will be buried 10 feet below the ocean floor before being placed through encasements of cement that are under residential and commercial neighborhoods in the process of connecting to the regional grid at large, newly constructed power substations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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proposed substation<\/p>\n\n\n\n

substation location<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Here are some drone shots of the proposed substation site at 8 Shootflying Hill Road, Barnstable. It’s 6.7 acre of privately owned land.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also shown are the nearby cranberry bog, and the Knights Inn motel, which will be demolished to make way for the substation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

125K gallons of dialectric fuel is to be stored in this location. In the event of a major spill, this fluid could have a disasterous effect on the quality of the nearby groundwater.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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