Designated 2023-07-07

Bourne

Bourne has the thinnest exposure of any designated town — two watersheds on its Buzzards Bay side. It also filed latest, in 2025.

What Bourne filed

What that means if you are selling

Every watershed in Bourne 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 Bourne 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.

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

Bourne Board of Health holds septic records and Title 5 reports. 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.