The Good, The Bad, and The Cape

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From 1936 to 1995 wastewater from the Massachusetts Military Reserve was dumped in a sequence of infiltration beds located on the south edge of what is now the Joint Base Cape Cod. This half-century long practice has resulted in a groundwater plume that spans from the JBCC to the coastal embayments located in Falmouth, Cape Cod. The polluted groundwater has resulted in a loss of plant and animal diversity and has threatened the drinking water in the area.

 

The Good, The Bad, and The Cape capitalizes on positive aspects of seemingly problematic elements in Cape Cod by introducting a phytoremediation strategy that not only cleans the polluted groundwater but also produces biomass. This hybrid phyto-coppice harvesting strategy introduces a paradigm shift in traditional remediation methods and expoits the groundwater plume as an economic catalyst as well as an exhibitional remediation strategy for Cape Cod and future polluted sites.

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Location:    Falmouth, MA

Under the Instruction of:    Niall Kirkwood, Pierre Belanger

Year Completed:    2015

Collaborators:   Brett Keese, Enrico Evangelisti