Massachusetts Alternative Septic System Test Center

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Massachusetts Alternative Septic System Test Center

MASSTC is the nation’s premier third-party testing and research facility for innovative/alternative (I/A) onsite septic treatment technologies.

06/22/2026

Next up in our System Shift storytelling series: On Ashumet Pond, Everything is Connected.
By

Janet Kluever doesn’t seem like the kind of person who would casually upend one of the most culturally entrenched rituals of modern American life but she is, one toilet use at a time. In fact, her Phoenix composting toilet is composting all of her waste and over years, making it into a healthy fertilizer she can use for her plants and away from, and out of, Ashumet pond.

And it’s good she’s doing this. Ashumet Pond which covers both Falmouth and Mashpee, sits a few hundred feet from her back door and is suffering a fate many other freshwater bodies across Cape Cod are: a slow death. The pond, slowly slipping into environmental distress summer after summer, its waters increasingly interrupted by cyanobacteria outbreaks, makes swimming, canoeing, fishing and even letting one’s dog drink from it, feel more like a gamble courtesy of all the bacteria...

06/15/2026

Our little water feature at MASSTC has a lot of life in it!

06/12/2026

EVERYONE IS ASKING…What Are the Current Approved Title 5 Innovative/Alternative Technologies???

Under Title 5 Regulations, MassDEP must approve an innovative/alternative septic-system technology before it can be used in Massachusetts. There are 4 categories of approval:

-General Use systems will provide a level of environmental protection at least equivalent to that of a conventional on-site system designed in accordance with Title 5.

-Provisional Use approval is intended for evaluation of alternative systems that appear technically capable of providing levels of protection at least equivalent to those of a standard on-site disposal system.

-Piloting is intended to provide field-testing and technical demonstration to determine if the technology can or cannot function effectively.

-Remedial Use systems improve existing conditions at a particular facility or facilities served by a failed, failing, or nonconforming system.

See the list of approved technologies at mass.gov

06/10/2026

So how are we going change this?

is collaborating with on an event June 20 on rethinking human waste for clean water and sustainable farms.

Whether you agree with urine diversion or not, they want you at this event to come and speak your mind! See the second flyer for contact information and to sign up for the dialogue group.

06/08/2026

Sanitation Innovation! Check out this cool news coming from Sweden:

has retrofitted bathrooms in the Studenternas football arena in Uppsala, Sweden to divert and collect urine from toilets and urinals during games.

An average event brings 7,000 attendees, most of who use the bathroom during a game, which can be a shock to traditional wastewater treatment systems. By instead diverting that urine at the source they can reduce need for treatment, protect water quality and collect urine for recycling as fertilizer.

�Sanitation360 uses their treatment process to convert the urine into fertilizer, which results in production of around 1,050 kilograms of fertilizer per year, enough to fertilize three football fields! Additional arenas are planning for installation of similar systems.

How cool!

06/01/2026

The Harwich Ponds Coalition is having their annual meeting on June 6th, 10am at the Harwich Community Center. Who is a featured speaker at the event? Our very own MASSTC Director Brian Baumgaertel!

Brian will be talking about what MASSTC is up to around I/A systems, eco sanitation, the Falmouth Pilot Project, greywater gardening and more.
Learning something new AND going to support the Harwich Ponds Coalition seems like a no brainer. Go get educated!

Head to harwichwaters.org for more info.

ecosanitation

05/29/2026

Our many bays, estuaries, and coastal waters around Cape Cod are polluted with excess nitrogen, mostly from domestic wastewater. Efforts to quantify that pollution and pinpoint its sources were conducted as part of the Massachusetts Estuaries Project (MEP), which was a collaborative nitrogen modeling effort by MassDEP, UMASS Dartmouth, and the towns in which their work was focused.

Why should you care about this?

The approach makes sense in that it provides a clear target and a known quantity of nitrogen to be removed. Towns are now using this approach to quantify nitrogen reductions needed to restore water quality and are using a variety of tools to do so.

Read the story written by MASSTC Project Assistant Bryan Horsley here: https://www.capecod.gov/2026/05/27/concentration-vs-load-measuring-performance-of-on-site-nitrogen-reducing-systems/

05/26/2026

The Cape Cod Commission writes that “across Cape Cod, nearly 6 million pounds of fertilizer and 1.3 million pounds of pesticides are applied annually. When applied to repel or destroy certain undesired organisms, pesticides can migrate into surface waters, groundwater, and the atmosphere where they can pose risks to the integrity of drinking water supplies and the health of humans, non-target species, and aquatic ecosystems.”

They add that their data, concluded that individual homeowners are the largest users of both pesticides (more than 80%) and fertilizers (69%), golf courses are the second largest users of pesticides (9.3%) and fertilizers (17.1%).

Why do we continue using them if the price tag to clean our waters from using them is in the billions?

Read more here: https://www.capecodcommission.org/our-work/pesticides-and-fertilizers/

05/20/2026

When it comes to getting wastewater treatment certifications, quality-controlled sampling and laboratory analysis is paramount. A good R&D program pays close attention to the numbers as well.

We will work with you to develop a sampling plan that fits your needs and budget. Your samples will be taken by qualified MASSTC staff and taken to our parent agency’s state-certified Water Quality Laboratory for analysis.

Field data are recorded with each sample to give you a better picture of your system’s performance.

To find out more about our lab and sampling, or to inquire about
pricing, head to our link in bio!

05/18/2026

We Need Your I/A Story!
Have you been following our System Shift series?

We’ve been interviewing Cape and Islands homeowners who have I/A systems as well as putting a spotlight on I/A and eco-sanitation pioneers.

What’s it like to have an advanced treatment system? How does it help the local mission to be better land and water stewards? We tackle these questions and more in hopes of helping “shift” the way we see all the moving pieces of Cape Cod’s wastewater puzzle.

That said, we need your story!
Reach out to Amy DuFault at [email protected]

Read System Shift through our link in bio.

Address

4 Kittridge Road
Buzzards Bay, MA
02542

Website

http://www.masstc.org/

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