Aerial view of algae mats in Warren's Cove in Marston Mills, Massachusetts. Cape Cod.
July 22, 2024 (BOSTON, MA) – Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) on Monday refiled its Clean Water Act lawsuit against the Town of Barnstable. The town’s sewage treatment plant, located in Hyannis, is polluting waters with nitrogen, leading to toxic algae outbreaks that destroy habitats and sicken people and pets.
“Cape Cod’s sparkling waters—cherished by residents and an attraction for the millions of tourists who visit the Cape each year—are becoming murky and draining of life as ever-higher levels of sewage seep through the region’s sandy soil and into its waters,” said Maggie Nivison, CLF staff attorney. “The algae blooms from this pollution are choking out critical flora, suffocating aquatic animals, and threaten human health. It’s time Barnstable update its facilities before further damage is done to the Cape’s waters, to the marine life that live in them, and to the commercial and recreational industries that rely on them.”
Nitrogen pollution from Barnstable’s Hyannis sewage treatment plant is discharged into the sandy soil of Cape Cod where it travels to various bodies of water throughout the Lewis Bay watershed. These bodies of water, which include Duck Pond, Dunns Pond, Simmons Pond, Schoolhouse Pond, Halls Creek, Hyannis Inner Harbor, and other unnamed ponds, are interconnected and exchange water and pollutants.
The pollution destroys the coastal ecosystems and the resulting algae outbreaks force the closure of ponds and beaches each year, which harms the local economy and dampens tourism. It also harms the fishing and cultural practices of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, which has deep historical ties to waters of Cape Cod—part of its traditional and ancestral land.
CLF initially filed this lawsuit in February 2021 and notified Barnstable of its intention to re-file it today after the initial lawsuit was dismissed in July 2022. In January 2023, the Court stated that CLF was allowed to re-file its lawsuit.
CLF’s lawsuit calls for Barnstable to address the sewage plant’s nitrogen pollution and comply with the federal Clean Water Act.
The lawsuit can be found here.
CLF experts are available for further comment.
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