System Shift is a new story series focusing on Cape and Islands homeowners who have I/A systems. Why did they get them? What’s it like to have them? How does it help their mission to be better land and water stewards? We’ll tackle these questions and more in hopes of helping “shift” the way we see all the moving pieces of Cape Cod’s wastewater puzzle.
By Amy DuFault, MASSTC Communications
Story #1: An I/A System Helps Lessen an Environmental Footprint on Herring Pond in Eastham
Martin and Ellen Ridge live in Eastham on Herring Pond, a 43-acre natural kettle hole pond in a town that has recently identified there are 278 cesspools. The Ridge’s are motivated to take action…
Story #2: Shubael Pond Homeowners Tackle Nitrogen Pollution with Innovative Septic Systems
In the tranquil neighborhood of Sand Shores, nestled along the 57-acre Shubael Pond in Marstons Mills, something remarkable is happening—quietly, and mostly underground…
Story #3: System Shift Series: MASSTC Co-Founder George Heufelder on I/A Systems Past & Present
Massachusetts Alternative Septic System Test Center (MASSTC) co-founder George Heufelder and I are having a conversation on a 3-acre test facility on Joint Base Cape Cod that he co-founded 25 years ago with Joe Costa, Dave Janek and Tony Milham. MASSTC, housed at the new Clean Water Center, is home to over 25 I/A technologies being tested by companies dotting the U.S. and beyond. George says in 1999, groups on the Cape were trying to figure out what to do with nitrogen and there was increasingly, a new buzz term by many environmental groups: innovative/alternative septic systems (I/A systems).
Long before Sara Molyneaux worked in chemical engineering, as an environmental advocate, or a homeowner rethinking the way wastewater works, she was a child with a vivid imagination and a passion for the outdoors.
Growing up as an only child, she spent hours outdoors alongside her favorite backyard elm that became a kind of companion. “It was always full of indigo buntings and goldfinches,” she recalled fondly.
That early bond with the natural world carried her through a biology degree and into a research career exploring fermentation using seaweed and freshwater plants. It also pulled her into environmental policy and community action, including 25 years on the board of the Conservation Law Foundation, where she focused on protecting New England’s waterways and coastal ecosystems.
So when she and her husband began renovating their 1915 Cotuit home—a property they bought in 1989, when the basement still had a dirt floor—Molyneaux saw a chance to weave sustainability more deliberately into the structure of daily life. By the time the major renovation wrapped in 2012, the couple had chosen an unconventional but deeply intentional upgrade: replacing all three of their toilets with Phoenix-brand composting toilet systems.
“It was really the only choice that fit with how we live,” she said.
Story #5: System Shift Series: Centerville Homeowners Become Wastewater Ambassadors
“Jane Ward and Steve Waller did not expect that replacing their septic system would make them minor celebrities in the world of wastewater management. But on Cape Cod, where the future of ponds, bays, and drinking water hinges on what happens underground, innovation has a way of drawing a crowd.
“The number and variety of people we are educating about I/A systems has blown our minds,” Jane Ward says, referring to innovative and alternative septic technology designed to remove nitrogen and phosphorus. “Who would’ve thought we’d become ambassadors for advanced wastewater treatment?”