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Section 319
NONPOINT SOURCE PROGRAM SOGGESS STORY
Reducing Nutrients from Cranberry Bogs Improves White Island Pond
Waterbodies Improved Cranberry farming contributed excess total phosphorus (TP)
to Massachusetts White Island Pond, which is comprised
of two separate basins. Poor water quality prompted the Massachusetts Department of
Environmental Protection (MassDEP) to add the pond to the state's list of impaired waters in
1992 for non-attainment of its primary recreation designated use. Project partners conducted
studies to document the current nutrient loading from the commercial cranberry bogs and
studied the feasibility of using low-phosphorus fertilizers to maintain yields while reducing
nutrient loading. Partners implemented best management practices (BMPs) to reduce
nutrient inputs. As a result, conditions in both basins of White Island Pond have improved.
MassDEP expects the pond to meet all designated uses by late 2015.
Problem
White Island Pond is in the towns of Plymouth and
Wareham in southeastern Massachusetts' Buzzards
Bay watershed. This 291-acre freshwater natural
seepage pond is comprised of two major basins:
the 124-acre West White Island Pond (West Basin)
and the 167-acre East White Island Pond (East Basin)
(Figure 1). Land use in the contributing watershed
is 57 percent forest, 16 percent residential, and 27
agricultural (primarily consisting of cranberry grow-
ing operations that discharge into the East Basin).
Monitoring in the East Basin conducted by the state
of Massachusetts in 1976 through 1978 showed TP
levels ranging from 0.01 to 0.05 milligrams per liter
(mg/L). Similar water quality problems have been
observed in the West Basin to a lesser degree.
Algal blooms and occasional fish kills were noted
at that time. As a result, MassDEP included both
the East (segment MA95166) and West (segment
MA95173) basins of White Island Pond on the
state's 1992 list of impaired waters (Category 5 in
the state's Integrated List of Waters) for TP, excess
algal growth, dissolved oxygen, and non-native
aquatic plants. The East Basin's 1992 list of impair-
ments also included turbidity.
Data collected in 2000 and 2007 showed continued
nutrient-related problems in the pond. Fertilizer
applied on nearby commercial cranberry opera-
tions contributed nutrients to the East Basin, which
experienced elevated levels of TP concentrations,
exhibited frequent algal blooms that caused some
Figure 1. Southeastern Massachusetts'White Island Pond is
comprised of two main basins: the West Basin (lower left)
and the East Basin (upper right).
beach closures (due to the presence of toxic cyano-
bacteria), and failed to meet Massachusetts' water
quality standard for transparency. Other sources of
nutrients included home septic systems and natural
releases from sediment.
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Project Highlights
MassDEP awarded a Clean Water Act (CWA) section
319 grant in 2001 to the University of Massachusetts
(UMass) Cranberry Experiment Station to conduct
a multi-year field study of phosphorus dynamics in
commercial cranberry bogs. The study focused on
low-phosphorus fertilizer trials, crop yields, testing
procedures, floodwater management, and develop-
ing a budget of the nutrient inputs to the bogs and
exports to the East Basin. By combining these data
with internal sediment loading estimates, septic
system estimates, and other watershed land use
source information, a total maximum daily load
(TMDL) for phosphorus was developed and approved
in 2010. It was determined that 24 percent of the
phosphorus load was from direct cranberry bog
floodwater discharges and an additional 49 percent
was associated with legacy phosphorus inputs being
released from the sediments each summer.
Before the sediment source could be addressed,
project partners needed to reduce the nutrient inputs
from the cranberry bogs. The Cape Cod Cranberry
Growers Association (CCCGA) received a CWA sec-
tion 319 grant in 2009 to implement BMPs such as
reducing phosphorus fertilizer applications, conduct-
ing tissue testing to determine plant nutrition needs,
and managing harvest water to avoid anoxic condi-
tions that can cause phosphorus to be released from
bog soils into the harvest flood water. In 2012 the
UMass Cranberry Experiment Station used a third
CWA section 319 grant to further evaluate fertilizer
reductions and develop iron sand filters and other
BMPs for cranberry bogs. MassDEP worked closely
with the UMass Cranberry Experiment Station and
cranberry growers and determined that lower rates
of fertilizer could be applied to the cranberry bogs
and still maintain productivity. In addition, a variety of
alternatives for water management (e.g., diversion of
cranberry discharge water) by the two growers have
decreased fertilizer inputs to the pond.
Results
Reducing the amount of phosphorus fertilizer applied
to bogs and diverting nutrient-laden discharge have
improved water quality in White Island Pond. Data
collected since 2008 have shown improved water
clarity and a decline of more than 40 percent in TP
concentrations (Figure 2). Cranberry-related nutrient
sources were reduced by over 90 percent.
The rate of decline has leveled off as TP from sedi-
ment diffuses and is flushed out. An alum treatment
was carried out in April 2013, and is expected to
120
Date
Figure 2. Total phosphorus concentration (parts per billion)
in the East Basin of White Island Pond (2000-2014).
further reduce TP in the water column. MassDEP
continues to monitor the system and will make
further adjustment through adaptive management.
Additional CWA section 319 funding has been
requested to further improve the pond water qual-
ity. MassDEP expects the pond to meet all of its
designated uses by late 2015.
Partners and Funding
In addition to the MassDEP Nonpoint Source
Program and the MassDEP Southeast Regional
Office, other contributing partners include the
UMass Cranberry Experiment Station, the CCCGA,
and two commercial cranberry growers (A.D.
Makepeace and Federal Furnace Companies). A
total of $216,913 in CWA section 319 funds sup-
ported this project, including (1) $187,197 to UMass
Cranberry Experiment Station in 2001, (2) $29,716 to
the CCCGA in 2009, and $346,767 to UMass in 2012.
In 2009 the Town of Carver used a $16,500 CWA
section 604(b) award to update and distribute the
cranberry growers' BMP guide. The partners for
this project included the CCCGA, UMass Cranberry
Experiment Station, and the Coalition for Buzzards
Bay. MassDEP also worked cooperatively with the
Massachusetts Department of Food and Agriculture
and UMass to establish a memorandum of agree-
ment that specified the studies, BMPs, and reports
needed to obtain water quality improvements.
UJ
(9
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Water
Washington, DC
EPA841-F-14-001Y
May 2014
For additional information contact:
Jane Peirce
Massachusetts Department of Environmental
Protection
508-767-2792 • Jane.Peirce@state.ma.us
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