NEWS RELEASE
2006-12 MASSACHUSETTS Military Reservation, Cape Cod, Mass. Officials from the Air Force Center for
Environmental Excellence (AFCEE) will host a meeting of the Ashumet Pond Nutrients
Advisory Group (APNAG) on Thursday, October 26, 2006 at 6:30 p.m. The meeting is open to the public and will be held
at the Barnstable County Fairgrounds administration building located at 1220 Nathan Ellis
Highway (Rt. 151) in East Falmouth. The APNAG [ap • nag] is a group of local citizens that
provides comments and advice to AFCEE [aff • see]. Their
specific focus is on AFCEE actions for reducing phosphorus inputs to Ashumet Pond from the
former MMR wastewater treatment plant. The meeting is open to the public. It will provide an update on the performance of
the geochemical (iron) barrier that AFCEE installed in Ashumet Pond in September 2004. Although the wastewater treatment plant closed in
1995, phosphorus has been traveling from the base in the groundwater. The phosphorus is slowly discharging into the pond
from sediments at the pond bottom, affecting the pond’s ecological health. The geochemical barrier is part of the Air
Force's on-going effort to reduce the amount of phosphorus entering the pond from the
former wastewater treatment plant. Mr. Jon Davis, Program Manager of the AFCEE
Installation Restoration Program, stated, “The barrier is working. It’s reducing phosphorus in the groundwater
that is flowing into Ashumet Pond. Data
indicate that since the barrier was installed two years ago, phosphorus levels in Ashumet
Pond have continued to decline, resulting in a healthier pond.” Background information on the APNAG and MMR
activities associated with Ashumet Pond, including the Ashumet Pond Geochemical Barrier
Project, can be found in a search of the MMR website at www.mmr.org. For more information about this project and
meeting, please contact Mr. Douglas Karson, AFCEE/MMR Community Involvement Lead, at (508)
968-4678, extension 2; Fax (508) 968-4673; or E-mail doug.karson@brooks.af.mil.
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