Background Information
The Town of Orleans has funded and organized a volunteer collection of water quality samples in the Town's ponds and estuaries since 2000. The estuary data had an integral role in supporting Massachusetts Estuaries Project (MEP) assessments of each of the five town estuaries1, establishing the subsequent Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) nitrogen TMDL's2, and in the Town's wastewater planning. The pond data, in turn, has had an integral role in supporting the assessment and management plans for Baker Pond, Cedar Pond, Crystal and Pilgrim Lakes, and Uncle Harvey's Pond.3
The Town's water quality data from 2000 through 2016 was reviewed and organized in 2017 4and 2018 5, respectively. In the meantime, water quality monitoring has continued in anticipation of needing feedback on the status of these systems for both TMDL compliance and the impact of the Town's wastewater planning.
The Town and the Marine & Fresh Water Quality Committee (MFWQC), which organizes the volunteer water quality sampling, asked for feedback on the more recent monitoring results and to provide that feedback (along with prior data when useful) in a website friendly format. As such, the Town asked the Coastal Systems Program from the School for Marine Science and Technology at UMass-Dartmouth (CSP/SMAST) to provide these website-friendly summaries of water quality in each of the key systems. 6
The estuary summary sheets focus on total nitrogen, clarity, total pigments, and dissolved oxygen. The freshwater pond summary sheets focus on total phosphorus, clarity, chlorophyll-a, and dissolved oxygen. These parameters are considered key indices of water quality.
NOTE: Error bars were only used for the coastal water quality summaries and represent the maximums and minimums of the data sets used to create the average values for each parameter.
References:
1. Nauset Harbor/Town Cove, Pleasant Bay, Rock Harbor, Namskaket Marsh, and Little Namskaket Marsh
2. Total Maximum Daily Load = TMDL; a contaminant concentration or load for a given impaired water body or portion of a water
body that will allow those waters to attain state water quality standards
3. Management Plans for : Pilgrim Lake, Crystal Lake, Bakers Pond, and Cedar Pond. https://www.town.orleans.ma.us/944/Management-Plans
4. Eichner, E and B. Howes. 2017. Town of Orleans Freshwater Ponds, Water Quality Monitoring Database: Development and Review. Coastal Systems Program, School for Marine Science and Technology, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. New Bedford, MA. 216 pp.
5. Eichner, E and B. Howes. 2018. Town of Orleans Estuaries: Water Quality Monitoring Database Development and Review. Coastal Systems Program, School for Marine Science and Technology, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. New Bedford, MA. 86 pp.
6. Technical Memorandum. 15 Website Water Quality Summary Sheets and Updated Estuary and Pond Databases. Coastal Systems Program, SMAST, UMass Dartmouth. September 23, 2024.https://www.town.orleans.ma.us/DocumentCenter/View/7880/SMAST_TechMemo_EstuaryandPond_WQ_DatabaseUpdates_WebSummaries_092324?bidId=