Letter from Chip Northrup

The Grass Isn’t Always Greener

We get our beach fix every year at the Cape. We bring our own water from Cooperstown because the Cape invariably runs low on fresh water by the end of the summer.

The only yards that are green are the ones that have their own water wells. Town water is curtailed. Over 80 percent of the houses are on septic and water wells. They learned years ago that the septic tanks discharge nitrogen and phosphates into the drinking water ponds, creating harmful algae blooms (HABs), so they now require septic systems to remove the nutrients from the septic discharge.

The grass is no longer greener over the septic tank. But the ponds no longer look like salsa verde. Since the water wells pump the aquifer down, they have to be careful not to pump it down too far or they will get infiltration of seawater into the aquifers.

As they say here on the coast, you won’t miss your freshwater until it tastes like saltwater taffy. And you won’t miss your freshwater pond until it looks like Mountain Dew.

Chip Northrup
Cooperstown