Phosphorus-contaminated ground water emanating from the former wastewater-disposal site at the Massachusetts Military Reservation (MMR) is currently discharging into nearby Ashumet Pond. Unlike many contaminants at the MMR, phosphorus transport in ground water is greatly retarded because phosphorus sorbs strongly to the aquifer sediments. Desorption of this reservoir of sorbed phosphorus will continue to result in elevated concentrations of phosphorus in ground water for many decades despite the removal of the wastewater source in 1995. The potential effect of continued phosphorus input on the ecology of Ashumet Pond has prompted a series of investigations of phosphorus in ground water and the role of phosphorus in the ecology of the pond. The U.S. Geological Survey Cape Cod Toxic Substances Hydrology group has worked with the Air Force Center for Engineering and the Environment to increase our understanding of the distribution and transport of phosphorus in the heterogeneous aquifer. Actions by the Air Force to remediate the phosphorus plume also have provided an opportunity to develop and evaluate innovative sampling methods at the ground-water/surface-water interface.

USGS Scientific Investigations Report 2004-5299
Response curves for phosphorus plume lengths from reactive-solute-transport simulations of onland disposal of wastewater in noncarbonate sand and gravel aquifers
Abstract Full PDF

USGS Water-Resources Investigations Report 03-4017
Reactive-transport simulation of phosphorus in the sewage plume at the Massachusetts Military Reservation, Cape Cod, Massachusetts
Abstract Full PDF

USGS Water-Resources Investigations Report 02-4306
Phosphorus in a ground-water contaminant plume discharging to Ashumet Pond, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, 1999
Abstract  Full PDF

USGS Water-Supply Paper 2463
Geochemical and hydrologic controls on phosphorus transport in a sewage-contaminated sand and gravel aquifer near Ashumet Pond, Cape Cod, Massachusetts
Publications Warehouse  

USGS Water-Resources Investigations Report 97-202
Geochemical and hydrologic considerations in remediating phosphorus-contaminated ground water in a sewage plume near Ashumet Pond, Cape Cod, Massachusetts
Publications Warehouse  

Map showing areal distribution of maximum dissolved phosphorus concentrations in ground water upgradient of Ashumet Pond, April-July 1999 (from McCobb and others, 2003)

Vertical distribution of dissolved phosphorus along section A-A' from multilevel sampler F619 to pond-bottom location 3a-125, Ashumet Pond, April-October 1999

Vertical distribution of dissolved phosphorus along section B-B' upgradient of Ashumet Pond, sampled May - July 1999, July - August 2001, and May 2003.

Areal distribution of dissolved phosphorus in pond-bottom ground water in the contaminant-plume discharge area at Ashumet Pond, August-October 1999, August-September 2001, and June 2003, and in ground water at upgradient multilevel-sampler sites, Summer 1999.