by Geri Williams

On August 20th HPWA hosted its Annual Meeting in the Little Red School House. At the meeting, the members unanimously elected for two-year terms the slate of Directors consisting of Don Williams, currently serving as President; Brian Harrington, current Treasurer; Cheryl Lewis, current Secretary; Ramona Krogman, who will serve as Membership Chair; and Flemming Christensen, as member-at-large. The rest of the members of the Board of Directors were elected last year for two-year terms.

Don thanked everyone for their support and gave a quick overview of HPWA’s efforts and accomplishments. Then various committee chairs summarized their committees’ work and answered questions. There was particular interest in land that HPWA had already helped the Town preserve in our Watershed and in QR facilitated trails that members and a recent intern created in the Alper and Comassakumkanut preserves. It was hoped that the Land Acquisition Fund will help acquire more land to preserve in our watershed.

Vice President, Michelle Christensen then gave a slide presentation and answered questions about how the currently being developed CWMP (Comprehensive Wastewater Management Plan) could affect residents of South Plymouth. Of greatest interest to those present was the prioritization of Big Sandy Pond as “High” and of Great Herring Pond as “Medium” in their need for sewers. It is our hope that our consultant generated Water Quality Plan will increase our chances of getting a grant to ease the residents’ financial expense burden. The WQP identified the single largest source of the phosphorus responsible for the cyanobacteria blooms in Great Herring Pond as Little Herring Pond whose phosphorus in turn comes from Ponds of Plymouth septic.

Everyone then socialized with each other and enjoyed the delicious food and beverages provided by Board Members.