Bourne - At a special town meeting to be held next month, two former selection officers promised to give one or two punches when discussing the proposed district sewer pipe on the Massachusetts Maritime College campus across from the Grey Gables Canal.

Galon "Skip" Barlow and W. Thomas Barlow said they knew the canal, its water flow and surrounding bays and entrances, as well as anyone who had time on the water.

Their concerns about the proposed Taylor Point drainage pipe have not been eliminated. They rejected the scientific claim that the proposed disposal pipeline at the western end of the canal would not harm the area. According to town secretary Barry Johnson, they are waiting for the special meeting on November 15 to discuss, which may prompt a secret ballot.

It is conceivable that the debate can become a watershed in the sewer planning of the area north of the canal. This issue may attract a large number of people attending the meeting.

Barlows led the Commission to Save the Cape Cod Canal, which drafted an article with legal aid that would prevent the sewers from Wareham across the Borne Township land, layout, and waterway construction area.

In mid-September, the article was sent to Berne Town's legal counsel Robert Troy for review. He recommended an authorization resolution, not an article with executive status.

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The sewage outlet is a proposal of the Condor Bay Alliance headquartered in New Bedford. After 100 signatures were verified by Johnson's office, the coalition reviewed Barlow's article last Monday and placed the items on a search warrant.

"The Alliance will absolutely oppose this article," Korrin Petersen, a lawyer for the project coordinator, said Wednesday. "This is not good for the bay. The bay is very sad and took this (proposal) off the table.

"The (Taylor Point) Sewage Outlet is an alternative that other related towns need to evaluate," Peterson said. "They haven't made any decisions. We are still collecting information."

Selectmen chairman Peter Meyer, who lives at the site and opposes the sewer pipe, said that the sewerage clause drafted now may "limit" the disposal plan, "so they cannot dump trash in the Taylor Point canal."

The alliance proposes to build a 24-inch, 4.5-mile pipeline that will connect the upgraded sewage treatment plant on the Agawam River in Wareham and the outlet of the Taylor's Point Canal in Bourne. The plan is conceptual at this point, and it promises not to cause damage to marine life due to strong tidal currents.

A broader argument relates to the sewage outlets that will improve the mood of the entire Vulture Bay basin. The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, the School of Massachusetts Dartmouth, and the Massachusetts Maritime Institute’s hydrodynamics certify that the proposed and highly treated emissions do not pose a risk to fishing populations or canal marine ecosystems. Therefore, the college campus is the preferred sewage outlet.

But Skip Barlow is skeptical of science and said that the increased sewage treatment in the waterway will rotate east and west with the tide, eventually affecting the coastline of Berne on both sides of the waterway.

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The Gulf Union explored multi-community cooperation through a US$200,000 grant received from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 2017. However, Skip Barlow claimed that "the modeling of the canal tidal flow is incomplete and inadequate" and a more comprehensive red dye test is required within a few days.

However, the alliance said it was time to take advantage of the canal dilution, Wareham's much-needed plant upgrade, and the removal of up to 90,000 pounds of nitrogen from the damaged bay.

The Shangwan Project also seeks to solve various sewage problems around the edge of Condor Bay. They include the expanded sewer demand and enrollment growth of the Maritime Academy; the increase of wastewater in Buzzards Bay village to accommodate the projected commercial development and increased tax base; the municipal issues in Marion; and the expansion of Wareham and South Plymouth’s sewage treatment systems, The sewage tank and old septic tank system there eventually drained into Buttermilk Bay.

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The Wareham plant discharges up to 2 million gallons of tertiary treatment waste per day; College, 77,000. Skip Barlow said that if the canal discharge changes, as much as 3.5 million gallons of water will flow into the waterway-potentially harmful results. The project license allows up to 10 million gallons per day.

“The canal is the jewel in Bern’s crown and 3 million tourists come to this waterway every year. This is a big tourist attraction for our town,” Skip Barlow said. "The destruction of the canal ecology and surrounding waters can lead to algae blooms and red tides-dead fish, enclosed shellfish areas and terrible smells can cause burning eyes, coughs and sore throats. This is great for our beautiful towns, beaches, and entertainment. , Environment and property value is a huge risk."

Meyer explained his objections to regional emissions. 

"Byrne needs time for the (consultant) environmental partner (EP) to complete our integrated wastewater management plan, involving Wareham and Joint Base Cape Cod, before deciding on the canal discharge. It will take us another year to obtain the final EP Report," he said.

"We are in an uncertain state at the sewage outlet," Meyer said. "I think we need to talk more about the use of the canal before making any decisions. There are sharp concerns. We need to deal with alternatives and be open to them."

Cohasset Narrows separates the villages of Wareham and Buzzards Bay. The discharge pipe from Wareham can follow different routes: the railway bed to Taylor's Point or the 28/Cranberry Highway to the Narrows Bridge. Or it can be submerged to cross the narrow or Sias Point strait.

The Barlows did not like these choices. Thomas Barlow publicly made two points: the canal outlet is politically predetermined to some extent; a suitable alternative is to build a pipeline from the Agavam River to the bay beyond Cleveland Reef.

They believe that the Maritime Academy can be linked to the existing Buzzards Bay waste system; Wareham can consider groundwater infiltration discharge; and Wareham can also upgrade its treatment plant and sewage lagoon so that it can continue to be discharged into the Agavam River.

The Taylor Point and Gray Gable alliance against the canal discharge may be being established, and Johnson agreed that residents on both sides of the canal may secure a quorum for the town meeting in November.

Mary Jane Mastrangelo, chairperson of the Sewer Committee, is also a selected woman and is considering how to educate the public about the article by November.

Skip the Barlow plan to discuss the issues involved with the town council voters. If needed, Thomas Barlow is expected to provide a historical perspective.

Residents of Grey Gables along the waterway vowed to block the proposal.

Don Ward lives on Jefferson Road in Grey Gables, 1,000 feet from the proposed sewage outlet.

"At Zero Ground," he said. "I don't have a scientific background, but my instinct is that it is not a good idea to discharge to the canal; treatment and monitoring are aside.

"Everything is fine until it's not good," Ward said. "Dumping garbage in the canal and letting the water take it away is a simple solution. I hope that other options have been explored. This needs to appear on people's radar screens. The seaside charm of the area may disappear. And it's not just that. It is only related to the impact on the value of the property."

At the same time, Peterson has been working on this project since 2015.

"Bourne's waters have been messed up by nitrogen pollution from the septic tank system, and the town is in the township sewage planning process to begin to tackle this challenge," she said in a joint statement.

"This is definitely not the time to cancel any alternatives to wastewater, especially places like the canals discovered by scientists at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution are excellent locations for safe discharge.

"And, most importantly, the town itself has a permit to discharge wastewater into the canal," she pointed out that the article asked the selection committee to oppose its permit. "It doesn't make sense."

The construction time of the sewage outfall project is expected to be five years, including obtaining a permit. If the project continues to advance, individual cities and towns will consider tax collection as a payment method.