Cape Cod Clean Water Week is something Cape Cod Clean Water Center Director Brian Baumgaertel has been dreaming up for a long time, and now the inaugural week is here.
More than 20 events are planned across the Cape throughout the week, from eco-restoration tours and guided walks to ribbon cuttings.
"We're trying to reach basically everyone because, I mean, water is Cape Cod, right?" said Baumgaertel. "It is who we are. And we need to do a better job of protecting that water resource as best as we can."
Among the free events are Wastewaterpalooza, a family-friendly open house at the Cape Cod Clean Water Center on Saturday, where children can climb inside an excavator and look at water through a microscope.
On Tuesday, a new exhibition will open at the Cape Cod Children's Museum called Cape Cod Poops: Flushed But Never Away.
"So we've been working with them over the last several months," Baumgaertel explained. "One of my staff members, Bryan Horsley, has constructed a miniature demonstration septic system that kids get to interact with, because we want them to understand that even though it's been flushed, it has to go somewhere."
On Friday, the Center will host the first Ripple Effect Awards, honoring three people whom Baumgaertel calls Cape Cod water warriors.
The 2026 Cape Cod Clean Water Week theme is “From Aquifer to Tap and Back Again,” highlighting the connections among the region’s groundwater, drinking water, wastewater, ponds, estuaries and coastal ecosystems. Because all of Cape Cod shares a single aquifer, Baumgaertel said everyone should be thinking about protecting that resource in the unpredictability of a changing climate.
"This big lingering unknown that we have hanging over all of us is climate change and not knowing exactly how that's going to, you know, change the math and change the game for water districts and water utility companies on the Cape in how they protect and make sure that they have adequate water for everyone," he said.
