Protecting Brewster's Woodlands, Ponds, Marshes and Meadows
All About Ponds
Cape Cod’s Ponds serve as a looking glass into the future of our drinking water. Cape Cod’s sole source aquifer provides 100% of our drinking water. Many of our pond suffer degraded water quality from both historic and current activities. Many are reaching their tipping points, where further alterations to the environment will result in sometimes dramatic changes.
Brewster’s ponds provide important habitat for aquatic life and are a great natural resource for our community. Yet, the scenic beauty and recreational benefits we enjoy from them masks growing problems beneath the surface.
Brewster Conservation Trust aims to support the health of our ponds by saving land in important Zone II watershed areas and also by partnering with organizations like the Brewster Ponds Coalition to help educate the public about what they can do to help keep our water clean and safe.
These excerpts were thanks to Brewster Ponds Coalition website.
How You Can Help
You can go to Brewster Ponds Coalition website to learn about “Five Quick Solutions” and ways that you can help keep our ponds healthy. And, watch Karen Malkus’ interesting and informative presentation on Cape Cod ponds here.
Karen Malkus-Benjamin, the Coastal Health Resource Coordinator for the Town of Barnstable is a summer fixture along the shores of Barnstable’s ponds, lakes and salt water beaches, where her main focus is looking for sources of bacterial pollution in these water resources and developing remedial strategies. A limnologist and educator, Karen was a founding member and the first Board President of the Brewster Ponds Coalition. Karen also created two of the BPC’s signature programs; the Pond Education Program and the Citizen Scientist Program, which continue to serve our community today.
