Look what is floating in the water:
"Searching for the right cure for Cape’s algae-choked waters; Nitrogen pollution suspected, but not everyone agrees" November 26, 2011|By David Abel, Globe Staff
BOURNE - The problem, a growing body of evidence suggests, stems from the dramatic rise in development on the Cape and the lack of sufficient waste-disposal systems.
The remnants of sewage from septic tanks of the more than 200,000 full-time Cape residents is seeping into the ground water and polluting estuaries, bays, and other bodies of water from Bourne to Orleans. Tides flush out the pollution on the northern side of Cape Cod.
The septic tanks adequately treat the bacteria from household waste, but they do not remove all the nitrogen in the waste water, which in the warmer months has spawned vast tracts of algae that deplete the oxygen in local waters and kill everything from eel grass to shellfish.
Same thing that has happened in the Gulf of Mexico.
The pollution has sparked a growing debate on the Cape. Environmental activists blame the federal government for failing to take action, and some residents question what is causing the problem, which could cost taxpayers billions of dollars to fix....
--more--"
