Water Quality
LWV Falmouth supports:

• Watershed protection through both outright purchase and easements in the Water Resource and Coastal Pond Overlay Districts.
• Minimum lot size of 80,000 square feet in Water Resource Overlay Districts.
• Ban on toxic septic system cleaners.
• Public education on fertilizers/pesticides/septic system cleaners related to groundwater pollution.
• All efforts to speedily and completely contain and clean up the contamination plumes emanating from the Mass. Military Reservation and from other sources.
• All efforts to protect groundwater quality and quantity, including maintenance of the natural environment and open space as a means of protecting the groundwater supply.
• Efforts to upgrade and maintain Falmouth’s water supply system.
• Equitable water rates, long-range planning and public education on water issues.

LWV Falmouth opposes:

• The proposed Machine Gun Range at the Mass. Military Reservation based on its potential damage to the Upper Cape Water Supply Reserve.

Rationale for edits:

Watershed is a generic term and it seems more useful to refer to the two Overlay Districts which are defined in the Zoning Code. There is an 80,000 sf minimum lot size in the Water Resource Overlay District in the Zoning Code, which may be reduced by special permit from the ZBA.

The proposed Gun Range would be sited on the 15,000-acre Upper Cape Water Supply Reserve, an area designated by the state to serve 3 purposes:  protection of the watershed, protection of wildlife habitat, and military activities compatible with those purposes. The Gun Range would destroy 170 acres of forested land that provide critical water protection and wildlife habitat services--activities that are not compatible with machine gun training activities. The Proposed Machine Gun Range involves the use of copper ammunition (potentially toxic) in the Water Supply Reserve. There is an intent to collect and recycle the copper ammunition but no public information on how that collection will be done or how effective it might be.