Designated 2023-09-29

Eastham

Eastham sits on the Wellfleet Harbour watershed, designated later than the rest of the Cape and therefore running on a different timetable. Almost all Eastham properties rely on septic systems.

What Eastham filed

What that means if you are selling

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

Start from the map, not from this table. Look the address up on MassDEP's address map, read the Estuarine System Name in the popup, and put that name into the check tool. If the map shows no shaded area at the property, box 4 applies.

If Eastham were to miss the milestones in its approved schedule, MassDEP could start the five-year upgrade clock, which would run to 30 September 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.

• Wellfleet Harbor — also Truro (Notice of Intent), Wellfleet (Notice of Intent)

A property sitting near a watershed boundary can return two names from a single click on MassDEP's map, each a real watershed. Run the check once for each. If the two give different answers, Eastham Board of Health decides which one the property is in.

The requirement that applies either way

A passing Title 5 inspection is required before you transfer title in Massachusetts. For an ordinary sale it must be done at or within two years before the transfer — or up to three years before, if the report comes with pumping records showing the system was pumped at least once a year since (310 CMR 15.301(1)). Some transfers run on their own timetables under 15.301(3), and refinancing or adding a spouse is not a transfer at all under 15.301(2). That is independent of anything on this page.

Your septic records

Eastham 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. Map names transcribed from MassDEP's NSA Address Lookup Map, 10 August 2026.