Conservation Law Foundation Sues Wychmere Club, Wequassett Inn

By: Cape Cod Chronicle

The Wychmere Harbor Club sits on the edge of the Wychmere Harbor channel in Harwich Port. WILLIAM F. GALVIN PHOTO

HARWICH – Just as it said it would in June, the Conservation law Foundation has filed federal lawsuits against the Wychmere Harbor Club and the Wequassett Resort and Golf Club alleging the resorts are illegally discharging nitrogen into Wychmere Harbor and Pleasant Bay.

The CLF says the facilities discharge from 45,000 to 80,000 gallons of sewage per day into leaching fields that allow nitrogen and other pollutants to seep into the soil and groundwater, which then flows directly into the by and harbor and causes algae blooms that endanger plant and animal life and threaten the health of people using the waters.

The lawsuits assert that the discharges into Pleasant Bay and Wychmere Harbor require federal Clean Water Act permits, and the Clean Water Act’s citizen suit provision allows private individuals and organizations to sue violators in federal court, according to a press release issued Friday.

Read more about this story in Thursday's Cape Cod Chronicle.