Site Index
Contact us / About Us
Bay & Watershed Info
Old CCMP|New CCMP
Links
Funding
Laws and Regulations
NEP Information
Reference
Status & Trends
Solutions
Take Action
Violations, Reporting
Weather and Tides
Buzzards Bay Nitrogen Management Strategy Origins
1991 Preliminary nitrogen loading recommended limits for Buzzards Bay embayments (click on image).
Original BBNEP Nitrogen Management Documents
This page provides some links to sub-pages that relate to the original formulation of the Buzzards Bay NEP strategy in the 1990s. The original justification of the approach is laid out in our nitrogen management action plan adopted in 1991 and finalized in 1992. We provide these links and correspondence to provide a historical context of current efforts to manage nitrogen in Buzzards Bay.Reports and Correspondence
1990 letter to DEP on Marion sewage treatment facility.
1993 letter to DEP on need for statewide nitrogen approach.
1993 helping establish 4 bedroom per acre Title 5 limit for Zone 2s.
1993 letter to DEP supporting proposed revisions to Title 5.
1994 report on using MassGIS land use data to calculate nitrogen loading.
1999 Nitrogen Management strategy revisions.
Cover letter #1 to 1999 Nitrogen Management strategy revisions.
Cover letter #2 to 1999 Nitrogen Management strategy revisions.
1999 BBNEP Nitrogen Management strategy report.
Originally this document was to be submitted to a scientific journal, but because it was to long and unwieldy, it remained an internal technical report used to help refine nitrogen management strategies in the Commonwealth. Within two years it was superseded by the more sophisticated modeling approach adopted by the DEP Massachusetts Estuaries project.
Buzzards Bay watershed and subbasin lines used by the BBNEP
Buzzards Bay watershed major basin boundaries. (zipped GIS shape file)Buzzards Bay sub-basin boundaries. (zipped GIS shape file)
These are the basin and sub-basin coverages employed by the Buzzards Bay NEP. They differ from the MassGIS data layer in that it includes Cape Cod, and because the area of towns of Plymouth, Wareham, and Bourne is based on groundwater elevations (appropriate for glacial outwash and moraines), and not land use topography. The Cape Cod sub-basins are identical to those adopted by the Cape Cod Commission, but with some additional subdivided areas. The northern watershed boundary is based on groundwater contours, and was developed in partnership with the USGS, and adopted by the Buzzards Bay NEP in 1991. It differs from the MassGIS boundary for the Buzzards Bay watershed. which is based on land surface topography, and which does not include Cape Cod. It was modified in the late 1990s based on Cape Cod Commission redelineation of watersheds. This version was last adjusted in 2006 based on Massachusetts Estuaries Project data for Cape Cod, reassessment of areas in Westport and Rochester, and other information. The "HN" coverage represents a presumed "high nitrogen contribution zone." More information about these coverages can be found on our Buzzards Bay watershed boundary page.