Designated 2023-07-07
Mashpee
Mashpee was a named party in the Conservation Law Foundation settlement that produced these regulations. It has filed on five watersheds, using two different legal routes.
What Mashpee filed
| Watershed | Filing | Transmittal | MassDEP's map calls it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Three Bays | De Minimis application | 24-WP98-0003-APP | Three Bays System |
| Popponesset Bay | Notice of Intent | 24-WP94-0010-APP | Popponesset Bay |
| Waquoit Bay | Notice of Intent | 24-WP94-0009-APP | Waquoit Bay & Eel Pond Embayment System |
| Bournes Pond | De Minimis application | 24-WP98-0002-APP | Great, Green, and Bournes Pond Embayment Systems |
| Green Pond | De Minimis application | 24-WP98-0004-APP | Great, Green, and Bournes Pond Embayment Systems |
MassDEP's address map draws these 5 rows as 4 areas — it groups some of them and uses longer names. Match on the opening words.
What that means if you are selling
Every designated watershed Mashpee appears in is covered by a filing, so the nitrogen upgrade requirement is suspended in all of them. On the MassDEP disclosure form a seller in one of those 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 Mashpee 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 Barnstable (Permit application), Sandwich (Notice of Intent)
- Popponesset Bay — also Barnstable (Permit application), Sandwich (Notice of Intent)
- Waquoit Bay — also Sandwich (Notice of Intent)
- Bournes Pond — also Falmouth (Notice of Intent)
- Green Pond — also Falmouth (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, Mashpee 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
Mashpee Board of Health holds septic plans 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.
Get a Title 5 inspection quote
Tell us the property and what you need. We pass the request to licensed Title 5 system inspectors covering Mashpee.