Can Chatham save $150 million in solving its water pollution problems? Some say that much and more. Ironically, to remedy environmental problems, many cities and towns are considering environmentally wasteful, harmful and unnecessarily costly methods that are two thousand years old.

Cape towns are throwing away money, and creating unsustainable solutions by ignoring the value in wastewater and solid waste, and not reusing much of the water pumped into homes and business, a panel of wastewater experts from the United States and Canada said at a forum hosted by the Waquoit Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve.

With Chatham poised to embark on the building of a traditional sewer based on centuries-old wastewater disposal design that will cost $300 million or more, is it too late to consider alternatives that may be far less costly and environmentally preferabler for Chatham? Do we have the time to find out?

This was a serious conference about a potential multi-billion cost to Cape Cod taxpayers. Chatham is leading the way with its $300-$600 million project. Can Chatham taxpayers benefit from this thinking with huge dollar savings?

Finding gold in Cape wastewater
By Doug Fraser
dfraser@capecodonline.com
May 23, 2009 6:00 AM
FALMOUTH — The Cape will spend billions in the next few decades to keep nitrogen and other contaminants from fouling its coastal waters to comply with the federal Clean Water Act.

But Cape municipal officials heard yesterday that they might not be considering some of the most innovative solutions to deal with wastewater.

Cape towns are throwing away money, and creating unsustainable solutions by ignoring the value in wastewater and solid waste, and not reusing much of the water pumped into homes and business, a panel of wastewater experts from the United States and Canada said at a forum hosted by the Waquoit Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve.

"There is no such thing as waste in nature," said Ed Clerico, president of Alliance Environmental, of Hillsborough. The United States is still using a wastewater model, developed in Roman times, in which clean water enters a municipality, is used, and then is discarded as waste, he said.

Of the 1,200 gallons that each United States resident uses on an average day, only one gallon is for drinking, he said, while up to 10 gallons are used for each flush of a toilet. It takes money to buy the energy to pump and treat drinking water, and more energy to clean it and dispose of it, he said.

"What we are doing is not sustainable," said Clerico, who discounts large-scale wastewater treatment plants as the only solution.

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