Testing our pond 

On a quiet morning in mid May, I joined Sophia Feuerhake, Senior Water Quality Technician, from the Association to Preserve Cape Cod (and Pond Village resident), in her canoe on Pond Village Pond. I had signed up to volunteer with the APCC to assist in pond monitoring as part of the Cape Cod Commission's Fresh Water Initiative, a collaborative mission employing the APCC as water monitors and data collectors and the Center for Coastal Studies as water analysts. That morning we would go to three ponds: Village Pond and then Clapps and Blackwater ponds in Provincetown. The three year CCC project entails collecting data and water samples once a month from April through October across 50 ponds on Cape Cod with the goal of assessing the overall health of the Cape’s ponds and lakes. Additionally, according to the CCC, the study will “identify regional trends in water quality, and evaluate the impact of these critical resources on the region’s economy.” Our Village Pond and Great Pond off Collins Road are the two Truro being monitored for the study.

My work that day entailed helping Sophia gather data including water clarity, temperature, PH levels, salinity,and dissolved oxygen at different depths. We collected water samples at different depths as well, which will be analyzed by CCS for alkalinity, total phosphorus, total nitrogen, nitrate/nitrite, orthophosphate, ammonium, chlorophyll and phaeophytin. It is a very exciting project and we are so fortunate to have our pond included!

Finally, if you see a black sedan with an aluminum canoe atop driving down Pond Road, most likely that’s Sophia! Give her a wave and a big thank you for all the important work she and the CCC, APCC, and Center for Coastal Studies are doing! 

For more information on this project, please click this link: Cape Cod Pond Monitoring Program | Association to Preserve Cape Cod (apcc.org)