Soil Conservation Grant
The Dukes Soil Conservation District has received a grant to evaluate agricultural nitrogen load
Edgartown wastewater authorities believe a plan to sewer hundreds of homes in the watershed of the Edgartown Great Pond can achieve the 30 per cent reduction in nitrogen pollution required to restore it to health.
A draft report of the Massachusetts Estuaries Project, obtained and published by the Gazette last week, finds the Great Pond’s water quality is significantly affected by heavy nitrogen loading. The biggest single contributor to the problem is household septic systems, the report found.
If the Edgartown Great Pond is to be restored to environmental health, town authorities must find a way to cut nitrogen pollution coming from household septic systems by at least 30 per cent, according to a comprehensive scientific study of the pond’s water quality.
The first of the long-awaited studies of the health of Vineyard ponds by the Massachusetts Estuaries Project is set to be released within weeks and will recommend significant changes to the management of the Edgartown Great Pond.
Ensuring that Kennedy family members will remain stewards of their rare Aquinnah estate into the next generation, the Martha's Vineyard Commission
The 366-acre Aquinnah estate known as Red Gate Farm - and described by the state Natural Heritage & Endangered Species Program as one of the mo
Edgartown Great Pond Receives State Assistance
By MANDY LOCKE
Edgartown's beloved Great Pond, a delicate balance of fresh and salt water that has become fragile as a result of the burdens of development, is at the top of the state's priority list to receive a comprehensive estuary restoration plan.
"They will essentially hand us the tools for managing the watershed and an understanding of the mechanics of doing that," said Tom Wallace, president of the Great Pond Foundation, a nonprofit group formed in 1999 to protect the health of the pond.