Without wastewater treatment facilities, Island ponds could be in worse shape. Estuaries suffer from nitrogen overload, coming mostly from septic systems that remove bacteria but not nitrogen.
A few hundred alternative systems are installed on Martha's Vineyard, mostly in Edgartown and Oak Bluffs. The technology could help achieve nitrogen mitigation in Island coastal ponds.
Island Official's Septic Permit Raises Issues of Zoning Rules
By CHRIS BURRELL
The operator of the Island's only two sewage treatment plants, who is also a member and former chairman of the Oak Bluffs board of health, may have sidestepped state environmental regulations when he applied for permits to have his old house demolished and a new one built in its place.
Joseph Alosso's property off County road sits in an area of town called Zone 2, where strict state and local regulations protect the town drinking water supply.
With only two months to go before the Oak Bluffs wastewater plant switches into gear, the town has no one to man the operation.