Clean water

The report makes recommendations aimed at the region’s 890 freshwater ponds and lakes, informed by a data-driven planning process the Cape Cod Commission began in 2022.

For the second year in a row, 19 of the Cape’s 21 public drinking water supplies received an “Excellent” water quality score, and none was graded “Poor.” But the annual report also found that about 90 percent of embayments and more than a quarter of tested ponds on Cape Cod have "Unacceptable" water quality.

Construction is underway at two boat launches on Scargo Lake in Dennis as part of a project to keep pollution from stormwater runoff out of local waters. Twenty boat launches around the Cape have been identified as high priorities for reducing runoff.

The Hyannis PFAS Community Working Group has received a grant to analyze how PFAS — from the Hyannis Gateway Airport, the former Barnstable County Fire Training Academy, and elsewhere — are interacting with one another in groundwater.

The state monitors bacteria levels at ponds, beaches and lakes across the state. How often does your favorite Cape and Islands swimming spot fail state water quality testing?

Forget the era of volunteers getting water quality data every five days. Data loggers are collecting information every 10 minutes.

Researchers from the Silent Spring Institute revealed this week that, among residents who lived in the community over a recent 10-year period, blood levels of PFHxS were more than three times higher than the median for the general population. Those researchers are now beginning the work of understanding the link between PFAS exposure in drinking water and specific health effects.

The Massachusetts Army National Guard submitted a new plan to the Environmental Protection Agency after officials from the federal agency found the range’s initial design could contaminate the aquifer that runs beneath the base. That aquifer provides drinking water to hundreds of thousands of Cape residents and visitors.

This morning it's safe to drink the tap water again in North Harwich.Residents had been forced to drink only bottled water for two days, after firefighting foam affected a public well.

The Association to Preserve Cape Cod released its fifth annual State of the Waters report. Along with assessment data, it urges towns to take advantage of funding for infrastructure to address the primary cause of poor water quality: nitrogen pollution from stormwater runoff, fertilizers, and septic systems.