FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, June 27, 2017
Media Contact:
Executive Director Zenas “Zee” Crocker
Barnstable Clean Water Coalition
508-420-0780
zcrocker@BCleanWater.org
Barnstable Clean Water Coalition Tackles Water Quality Crisis
The Environmental Non-Profit Formerly known as Three Bays Preservation, Inc. Evolves into
Town-Wide Organization
Osterville, Cape Cod, Mass. – A flagship environmental non-profit founded in Osterville in
1996 has now evolved into a new town-wide organization dedicated to restoring and preserving
clean water in marine estuaries, ponds, rivers, and coves throughout Barnstable.
Before a packed community Open House in Osterville on June 23, Zenas Crocker, the new
executive director of Barnstable Clean Water Coalition (BCleanWater.org), unveiled the vision
for morphing into a town-wide entity. “Monitoring, Education, Advocacy and Mitigation will
be the four cornerstones of this rescue mission to save impaired bodies of water throughout
Barnstable,” Crocker explained.
Excess nitrogen leaching from septic systems in marine embayments and freshwater ponds
powered the decision to evolve, added Crocker. Other causes of water pollution include road
runoff from lawn fertilizers, detergents from washing cars and doing laundry, as well as other
metals and hydrocarbons.
Another way to look at the marine crisis is that every day nitrogen equal to sixty-five 50-pound
bags of fertilizer flows into the 1,251-acre Three Bays Estuary alone that encompasses North,
West and Cotuit Bays. In fact, nitrogen levels far exceed critical levels established by the
Massachusetts Estuaries Project (MEP.) Nitrogen also pours into Cape Cod Bay and other marine
estuaries within the Town of Barnstable.
BCWC will continue to collaborate closely in its expansion on water quality sampling through
UMass Dartmouth’s School for Marine Science and Technology (SMAST) as well as working
with other science institutions and like-minded non-profits. “The Coalition is now town-wide
because the issues we face as a community can be acutely addressed by expanding our mission
area to include the whole town,” Crocker clarified.
Up until recently, BCWC was Three Bays Preservation, Inc., founded in 1996 to dredge areas
around a treasured barrier island and undertake conservation, science and policy initiatives in and
around the watershed that encompasses West, North and Cotuit Bays. Now that BCWC is townwide, the organization will pivot to include Barnstable’s entire 75-plus square mile area.
“The emergence of Barnstable Clean Water Coalition marks a new era in water conservation on
Cape Cod,” remarked Michael J. Egan, president of the Board of Directors. “We will explore
time-honored methods of restoration and Non-Traditional Technologies (NTT’s) will also be in
our restoration arsenal,” Egan added.
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Barnstable Clean Water Coalition (BCWC) works to restore and preserve clean water in the Cape
Cod Town of Barnstable. For more information please visit: BCleanWater.org; phone 508-420-
0780, or email info@BCleanWater.org.
Press Release – Barnstable Clean Water Coalition Tackles Water Quality Crisis