In the battle to prevent further pollution of the Vineyard’s ponds, Island officials are eying a new way of disposing human waste: cutting-edge toilets.
A new bill before the state legislature that proposes to change how Massachusetts defines when certain beaches are considered public is making waves on Martha’s Vineyard and could upend centuries of precedent.
The storms have rung alarm bells about potential environmental hazards, both from the continual undermining of the south shore’s barrier beaches that protect these ponds and from the longer-term effects of more salt water breaching the fresh water environment.
Gov. Maura Healey announced Friday that the town of Edgartown along with Barnstable County will receive a combined $1 million in grants to support coastal dredging efforts.
As a tectonic shift in state wastewater regulations is under consideration by state officials, Island homeowners and towns are bracing for what could be millions of dollars in mandatory upgrades in the coming years.
As coastal ponds and estuaries continue to deteriorate throughout the Cape and Islands, the DEP has proposed a pair of wastewater regulation amendments that could have sweeping impacts across the region.