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Celebrate Our Waters Returns In June
Tours of the wastewater treatment facility on Overland Way will be provided June 6 as part of the Orleans Pond Coalition’s Celebrate Our Waters festivities. FILE PHOTO
ORLEANS – The Orleans Pond Coalition is stretching its Celebrate Our Waters festivities across three phases this year, including select events the first weekend of June.
The coalition will be hosting tours of the town’s wastewater treatment facility on Overland Way on June 6, followed by an informational tent that will be staged at Depot Square on June 7.
For more than a decade, the coalition has annually hosted a slate of programs and offerings each September geared toward better educating residents and visitors about the importance of protecting the town’s waterways. This year, the coalition opted to stretch its programming across weekends in April, June and September.
Eric Spengler, the coalition’s president, said the phased approach is designed to reach more people across multiple dates.
“We were seeing a lot of the same people participating in a lot of the same events, so we felt like it needed to be changed,” he said.
The town’s wastewater treatment facility opened in March 2023, shortly before the completion of the first phase of town sewering downtown. Three 30-minute tours of the facility will be offered from 3 to 5 p.m. on June 6. Pre-registration is required on the coalition’s website.
The coalition has offered tours of the facility in the past, all of which Spengler said have been well attended and received.
“Wastewater is without a doubt the number one reason that our water quality is deteriorating,” he said. “So if people can understand how you transition from a septic tank, which doesn’t do anything to reduce the amount of nutrients that get into our waters, to a process that can pull it all out, I think it’s great to let people see that firsthand.”
The information tent on June 7 will host a number of organizations that will discuss the methods they use to help clean local waterways and test water quality. Among the participating organizations are the Association to Preserve Cape Cod, Silent Spring Institute, the Massachusetts Oyster Project, Old Ladies Against Underwater Garbage, the Orleans Open Space Committee and the green club from Nauset Regional High School. The tent will be up from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
“We think that by seeing these volunteer groups and understanding a little bit about how they go out and understand the quality of our waters and test them, hopefully people will get a greater appreciation of the need to protect them and see what they can do,” Spengler said.
The upcoming June events will be followed by the coalition’s “classic” slate of Celebrate Our Waters events in September. Those include yoga on the beach, birdwatching and a hike out to Pochet Island. New this year will be kayak trips out to Sampson Island and an overview of an ongoing eelgrass restoration project, Spengler said.
For more information and to pre-register for the June 6 wastewater facility tour, visit https://www.orleanspondcoalition.org.
Email Ryan Bray at ryan@capecodchronicle.com
The coalition will be hosting tours of the town’s wastewater treatment facility on Overland Way on June 6, followed by an informational tent that will be staged at Depot Square on June 7.
For more than a decade, the coalition has annually hosted a slate of programs and offerings each September geared toward better educating residents and visitors about the importance of protecting the town’s waterways. This year, the coalition opted to stretch its programming across weekends in April, June and September.
Eric Spengler, the coalition’s president, said the phased approach is designed to reach more people across multiple dates.
“We were seeing a lot of the same people participating in a lot of the same events, so we felt like it needed to be changed,” he said.
The town’s wastewater treatment facility opened in March 2023, shortly before the completion of the first phase of town sewering downtown. Three 30-minute tours of the facility will be offered from 3 to 5 p.m. on June 6. Pre-registration is required on the coalition’s website.
The coalition has offered tours of the facility in the past, all of which Spengler said have been well attended and received.
“Wastewater is without a doubt the number one reason that our water quality is deteriorating,” he said. “So if people can understand how you transition from a septic tank, which doesn’t do anything to reduce the amount of nutrients that get into our waters, to a process that can pull it all out, I think it’s great to let people see that firsthand.”
The information tent on June 7 will host a number of organizations that will discuss the methods they use to help clean local waterways and test water quality. Among the participating organizations are the Association to Preserve Cape Cod, Silent Spring Institute, the Massachusetts Oyster Project, Old Ladies Against Underwater Garbage, the Orleans Open Space Committee and the green club from Nauset Regional High School. The tent will be up from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
“We think that by seeing these volunteer groups and understanding a little bit about how they go out and understand the quality of our waters and test them, hopefully people will get a greater appreciation of the need to protect them and see what they can do,” Spengler said.
The upcoming June events will be followed by the coalition’s “classic” slate of Celebrate Our Waters events in September. Those include yoga on the beach, birdwatching and a hike out to Pochet Island. New this year will be kayak trips out to Sampson Island and an overview of an ongoing eelgrass restoration project, Spengler said.
For more information and to pre-register for the June 6 wastewater facility tour, visit https://www.orleanspondcoalition.org.
Email Ryan Bray at ryan@capecodchronicle.com
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