Designated 2023-07-07

Barnstable

Barnstable is the largest town on the Cape by population and the furthest along procedurally: it filed a full Watershed Permit application rather than a Notice of Intent, covering seven watersheds in a single submission.

What Barnstable filed

What that means if you are selling

Every watershed in Barnstable is covered by a filing, so the nitrogen upgrade requirement is suspended here. On the MassDEP disclosure form a seller in one of these watersheds would normally tick box 2 — in a Nitrogen Sensitive Area, not currently subject to an upgrade — and name the filing above.

If Barnstable were to miss the milestones in its approved schedule, MassDEP could start the five-year upgrade clock, which would run to 8 July 2030. That has not happened. It is the reason this page carries a date and gets re-checked.

Watersheds shared with other towns

These cross town lines, and the neighbouring town did not always file the same way — so two properties in the same watershed can sit in different positions.

• Three Bays — also Mashpee (De Minimis application), Sandwich (Notice of Intent)
• Popponesset Bay — also Mashpee (Notice of Intent), Sandwich (Notice of Intent)
• Lewis Bay — also Yarmouth (Notice of Intent)

The requirement that applies either way

A passing Title 5 inspection is required before you transfer title anywhere in Massachusetts, and it is valid for two years — three if you have documented annual pumping. That is independent of anything on this page.

Your septic records

Barnstable Board of Health holds septic records for the seven villages. If you are trying to establish that nitrogen-reducing technology was already installed — box 3 on the disclosure form — that installation date is what you need, and the Board of Health file is where it lives.

Filings from MassDEP watershed application table, 11 June 2026.