If you care about Santuit Pond, there are ways, both large and small, to help. Here are some actions you can take to be part of the solution!

  • Limit Fertilizer Use: Wherever you live in town, the fertilizer you put on your lawn will eventually make its way to a freshwater waterway. This is one of the biggest contributors to the overnutrification of our ponds, especially Santuit Pond. Mashpee has a strict lawn fertilizer by-law that prohibits application within 100' of a waterway. (And town-wide, no fertilizer may be applied anywhere between October 30th - April 14th.) See Chapter 107 of the Town Code.
  • Create Buffer Zones Along Shorelines: Leaving a strip of natural vegetation along pond edges helps filter runoff and trap nutrients before they get into the water.
  • Install a Cape-Friendly Lawn: Use clover, low-maintenance grass, moss, and native perennial plants to help reduce the need for fertilizers. They use their deep root systems to naturally access nutrients, conserve water, and improve soil health.
  • Use Phosphate Free Laundry Detergent: Phosphates are a form of phosphorus, and just like the phosphorus in fertilizers, cyanobacteria thrive on it. It seeps into the ground from your leaching field, and eventually makes its way to the pond. There are effective, phosphorus-free laundry detergents such as:
  • Report Algae Blooms: Keep an eye out for unusual colors in the water, and report sightings to Ashley Fisher, Mashpee's Water Quality Coordinator, at afisher@mashpeema.gov.
  • Respect the Horsepower Limit: Limiting horsepower reduces boat engine turbulence that stirs up nutrient-rich bottom sediment and breaks apart toxic algae colonies. Keeping water calm stops nutrients from fueling new blooms. Also, Alum treatments are scheduled to begin in the Fall of 2026. Aluminum Sulphate will be injected into the water column. It will bind with the phosphorus, making it unavailable as a nutrient source for the cyanobacteria, and forming a "floc layer," trapping phosphorus deeper in the sediment. Higher HP motorboat wakes churn up the mud, disturbing the delicate alum floc layer and releasing trapped nutrients back into the water column. Call the harbormaster if you see a boater using a motor with 10 HP or more.
  • Clean and Dry Your Boat Before Entering the Pond: Do this to stop the spread of aquatic invasive species such as milfoil and fanwort, as well as harmful fish diseases that can disrupt the pond's ecosystem. Don't forget to clean your trailer and motor!
  • Join Our Group! Be a part of our association so you can make informed decisions and share your knowledge with friends, neighbors, at in-town meetings, and at the ballot box! Check out our facebook group.
  • Attend Meetings of the Mashpee Freshwater Ponds Committee: With representatives for each pond, this committee meets monthly to set goals and review progress, and share information among its members. Informative outside speakers often participate as well.