Herring River — nitrogen sensitive area status and filings

Herring River

A designated Natural Resource Nitrogen Sensitive Area covering parts of Brewster, Dennis, Harwich.

On MassDEP's address map, this area is called Herring River Embayment System. That is the name you will see in the popup if you click your property on the map, and it is the name to look for — not the shorter one at the top of this page.

What each town filed

Town	Filing	Transmittal
Brewster	Permit application	26-WP95-0001-APP
Dennis	Notice of Intent	24-WP94-0003-APP
Harwich	Notice of Intent	24-WP94-0007-APP

The towns here did not file the same way. Two properties in this watershed can sit in different legal positions depending on which side of a town line they fall. If you are near a boundary, the town matters as much as the watershed.

What the filings mean

Permit application

The town has filed a full Watershed Permit application. That is further along than a Notice of Intent: the plan itself is in front of MassDEP, not just an intention to produce one.

Notice of Intent

The town has filed a Notice of Intent: a commitment to apply for a Watershed Permit later, on a schedule approved by MassDEP. It pauses the clock. It does not stop it.

Because these are applications rather than granted permits, the suspension is conditional. A town that misses the milestones in its approved schedule can have the five-year upgrade clock started by MassDEP — running to 8 July 2030.

Source oddity. Source table shows no NSA designation date on this row. We have recorded it rather than tidied it away.

MassDEP's reports for this area

The studies behind this area, published by MassDEP.

Herring River Embayment System, Harwich MA - 2013 (2013) — Massachusetts Estuaries Project report
Herring River Estuarine System TMDL For Nitrogen (Total) (2016) — Total Maximum Daily Load report CN 395.1

Selling a property here

On the MassDEP nitrogen disclosure form, a seller in Herring River would normally tick box 2 — located in a Nitrogen Sensitive Area, but not subject to the upgrade requirement because a filing covers the watershed — and name the filing for their town above.

Separately, a passing Title 5 inspection is required before transfer, as it is everywhere in Massachusetts. How the disclosure works →

Filings: MassDEP watershed application table, 11 June 2026. Map name transcribed from MassDEP's NSA Address Lookup Map, 10 August 2026. Reports: MassDEP Natural Resource Nitrogen Sensitive Areas feature layer, retrieved 26 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 that town. Free, and there is nothing to sign here.