Cranberry Bog Permeable Reactive Barrier Project

It is late September, and we are at the upper reaches of the Marstons Mills River (Barnstable, Massachusetts) at a cranberry bog owned by the Hamblin family, who have been farming cranberries since 1860. Before the Hamblin bogs are flooded for this year’s cranberry harvest, we met up with Elizabeth Ells, a native Cape Codder and a PhD candidate at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth’s School for Marine Science and Technology (SMAST), and SMAST Professor Brian Howes, PhD, to discuss a unique research and design project they are piloting in the bogs.

This network of active cranberry bogs at the headwaters of the Marstons Mills River is home to a significant amount of groundwater discharge and upwelling. Nutrients from septic systems, fertilizers, and stormwater runoff from neighborhoods around the bogs come to the surface in this area and enter the river. Once these pollutants reach the river, it takes less than four hours for them to flow into the Three Bays Estuary. These conditions provide an opportunity to test nutrient reduction at the source of pollution and will show us immediate results on how the various strategies can improve the health of the estuary.

We chose the Hamblin Bogs as the site of two nature-based pilot projects due to their location. These pilots focus on the removal of nutrients, specifically nitrogen, which flows into the bogs from the surrounding neighborhoods. Led by BCWC’s project manager Casey Dannhauser, a woodchip-based bioreactor was installed in late July. You can learn more about this project by visiting BCWC’s video library.

With the same principals and goals in mind, the SMAST project led by Elizabeth is using a permeable reactive barrier (PRB) in a ditch close by to the bioreactor. In this video, you will learn from Elizabeth and Brian what a PRB is, the materials being used and what actions they need to consider as they continue with the project. The objective of this pilot project is to learn what steps need to be taken to implement modular and larger scale PRBs in a multitude of eco-systems across Cape Cod and beyond.

Barnstable Clean Water Coalition (BCWC): https://bcleanwater.org/
BCWC Cranberry Bog Bioreactor Nitrogen Reduction Project: https://youtu.be/lMeAeTH3Sco

Видео Cranberry Bog Permeable Reactive Barrier Project канала Barnstable Clean Water Coalition