Stormwater Management at Public Boat Ramps

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Freshwater ponds and coastal embayments across Cape Cod are significantly degraded by nutrient and bacteria impairment. Land uses, including stormwater runoff and fertilizer use, contribute on average 20 percent of the controllable nitrogen load within our coastal watersheds, and bacterial contamination including cyanobacteria blooms regularly causes closures of shellfish areas and beaches.

This project aims to address this issue through stormwater management at public boat ramps, locations of direct discharge with little to no treatment of stormwater. The goal of this project is to complete a regional assessment and prioritization to inform development of conceptual and permit-ready designs for stormwater management at priority boat ramp sites. Green infrastructure stormwater systems that use soils and native plants for pollution removal will be designed to maximize nutrient and bacteria reduction to improve water quality.

APCC is working with state and municipal staff and seeking input from local pond and watershed associations, businesses, residents, and community groups associated with high priority sites to inform final site selection and stormwater system design. Assessment and design work will be completed by Horsley Witten Group. With completion of designs, APCC plans to work with our partners to leverage further support and funding for final construction and installation of stormwater systems priority sites. 

Priority Boat Ramps

The interactive map below shows twenty high-priority boat ramps selected with input from town and state staff for improved stormwater management designs. Additional layers from MassGIS indicate the level of water quality impairment, presence of native anadromous fish species, and watershed drainage areas at the associated ponds and embayments. By clicking on the individual boat ramp symbols, you can learn more about each site. Also, toggle layers on and off to investigate the resources and impairments at each location.

Project Activities and Timeline

The project area includes freshwater ponds and coastal embayments in Barnstable, Bourne, Brewster, Dennis, Falmouth, Harwich, Mashpee, Orleans, Sandwich, and Yarmouth.

The project began in late 2021 with identification of potential sites. Over 100 public boat ramps (town and/or state owned) were identified within the project area. With input from municipal and state partners, the top 20 boat ramp sites were selected for further assessment and design. Site visits were completed in July 2022 to inform concept designs and prioritization of these 20 sites. From this list a subset of priority sites was selected for development of permit-ready designs by end of 2023.

10% Concept Designs & Field Forms

Horsley Witten Group and APCC met with state and town staff members at each site in July 2022 to assess the drainage area, facilities, and existing conditions of each boat ramp. Based on the field visits, Horsley Witten developed “Field Forms (PDF)” summarizing the observations of current conditions as well as conceptual design sketches of proposed stormwater best management practices.

Sites Advancing to Permit-Ready Designs

Since the comments we received from the public engagement process were so supportive of the project goals and concept designs, we were able to select the top seven sites advancing to permit-ready designs based largely on the prioritization generated from ranking the sites according to the following criteria:

  1. Potential Pollution Removal (40 pts)
    This category was allotted the highest number of possible points based on the main project goal of addressing the pollutants of concern. We analyzed this category based on water quality volume treated (with a goal of 1 inch per impervious acre), as well as the most currently accepted removal efficiencies for the proposed practices.
  2. Estimated Planning-Level Construction Cost (10 pts)
    Preliminary planning-level construction cost estimates were roughly approximated on a unit cost per volume or area of the practice and any associated infrastructure based on literature and HW’s recent experience with implementation of local projects.
  3. Ease of Implementation (20 pts)
    Compared the concept designs based on implementation factors, such as potential required permitting, construction access, potential abutter property impacts, and maintenance burden.
  4. Additional benefits/factors (30 pts)
    This category compared the concept designs based on additional factors of interest including proximity to environmental justice populations and resource areas (e.g., shellfish beds and anadromous fish runs), improving habitat (e.g., removing invasive species), addressing existing conditions (e.g., repaving degraded ramps), building climate resiliency (e.g., adding wind or wave breaks), and providing public education.

Based on the ranking and conversations with local partners, the boat ramp sites selected to advance to 75% (permit-ready) designs with current funding are as follows (listed alphabetically by town):

  • Electric Avenue Boat Ramp (Bourne)
  • Scargo Lake Landings (Dennis)
  • Ashumet Pond Boat Ramp (Falmouth)
  • Herring River Boat Ramp (Rt 28, Harwich)
  • Mashpee-Wakeby Pond Boat Ramp (Mashpee)
  • Oak Crest Cove Boat Ramp (Sandwich)
  • Follins Pond Road Boat Ramp (Yarmouth)

For those sites that were not selected for further design as part of this current funding cycle, APCC will continue to work with interested partners to seek additional funding to develop stormwater designs for these remaining sites. Additionally, APCC has shared all acquired stakeholder feedback regarding these other sites with the respective state or town partners for future reference.

Permit-Ready (75%) Stormwater Retrofit Designs

Throughout 2023, APCC and Horsley Witten Group worked closely with town and state staff, as well as local stakeholders, on the design of green system infrastructure stormwater retrofits for the seven selected locations. To access the permit-ready site plans and stormwater report (including Operations and Maintenance Guide), see the links below for each site. Permitting for these sites will be completed in 2024. For a summary of the project through end of 2023 and completion of 75% design plans for the top seven priority sites see: APCC’s EPA Southeast New England Program Grant Report Executive Summary.

Partners

This project is a collaborative effort with the Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game Office of Fishing and Boating Access and the following towns: Barnstable, Bourne, Brewster, Dennis, Falmouth, Harwich, Mashpee, Orleans, Sandwich, and Yarmouth. Funding for this work has been provided by a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Southeast New England Program Watershed Grant in partnership with Restore America’s Estuaries (FY21), as well as two MA Office of Coastal Zone Management Coastal Habitat and Water Quality Grants (FY23 and FY24).

APCC
EPA
Horsley Whitten Group
Office of Fishing and Boating Access
Restore America's Estuaries
SNEP