The Edgartown Great Pond is in trouble, its brackish waters out of balance and at the outer limit of their capacity to carry nitrogen. This is a well-known fact, thoroughly documented in the Massachusetts Estuaries Project draft report for the pond which was obtained by this newspaper, published on its Web site and written about a year ago this summer.
Nessie is not a sea monster but a portable cutterhead dredge, acquired by the Great Pond Foundation to increase the effectiveness of the Edgartown Great Pond’s openings to the sea, which are essential in improving the water quality and health of the pond.
Nessie is her name. A new dredge for the Edgartown Great Pond was launched on Wednesday afternoon before a crowd of 50 friends and riparian owners around the pond. Nessie will begin her work in November by dredging the bottom and helping to improve circulation in the pond. The first project will involve removing a sandbar that has built up in the pond near the site where it is opened to the sea. Dredging the area is expected to make future openings to the sea stay open for longer periods of time. Other dredging projects will follow.
Paul Bagnall has seen many cuts, the trenches of sand dug to connect pond and ocean, but they’re all a little different.
As shellfish constable Mr. Bagnall oversees the opening of Edgartown Great Pond between three and five times a year. The opening resalinates the pond, purges nutrients and allows shellfish to thrive. It also fills the pond with herring and striped bass, much to the delight of local fishermen.
Dr. Seuss was prophetic (and likely his words and works always will be). I have been lucky to have been able to go to many wild and wonderful places both near andfar. The places that inspire me most are always close to water.
Island authorities must radically cut nitrogen pollution in the Edgartown Great Pond, state officials told a public hearing Wednesday at Edgartown town hall about the final report from the Massachusetts Estuaries Project.
The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection held the hearing to discuss the pond’s nitrogen problems and the requirement for a Comprehensive Wastewater Management Plan to limit nitrogen seeping into it.
