NEW MODELING SHOULD INCORPORATE TIME-TO-TRAVEL The map to the right shows groundwater “time-to-travel” in years. Nitrogen travels with the groundwater on Cape Cod until it reaches surface waters (bay, estuary, lake, pond or river). Approximately 1,991 homes are present in the Phase 3 area, with 1,737 of these located in the Three Bays watershed. The average age of homes in this area is over 40 years (median year built is 1977). With a Title 5 system or cesspool’s limited life, we could expect to see most of these households replace their systems over the 25-year period before the planned sewer reaches their property. If these homes upgraded to new EIA systems “time-to-travel” over this timeframe, the need for sewer might } in years be mitigated or even eliminated! More importantly, the “clean water clock” will start running decades earlier making it more likely that our estuary will survive! MONEY ALSO MATTERS The MEP model wasn’t designed to address the importance of time to travel nor the practicality of how communities pay to fix the problem. But these are major considerations. The clean-up clock is ticking, but it is hard to place a societal value on returning an estuary to a healthy status in 10 years rather than 40 years. Property values, tourism, and our overall lifestyle will all be impacted if our water quality continues to decline! Once again, a model and math may help provide the answer. Actuarial tables help us determine how long we may live and what kind of insurance we may need to provide for income in our later years. Modeling could help us determine the value of a healthy estuary now and in the future. Another important part of the equation to model is the overall cost. We tackled some of this in our last newsletter Subsidize to Equalize. Our work has shown that today a new EIA system may cost just one-third the cost of sewer. Less than a third if we incorporate the state credit of $18,000 and other potential incentives. BCleanWater.org Fall/Winter 2025 | Barnstable Clean Water Coalition | 5