Phinney's Harbor — nitrogen sensitive area status and filings

Phinney's Harbor

A designated Natural Resource Nitrogen Sensitive Area covering Bourne.

On MassDEP's address map, this area is called Phinneys Harbor, Eel Pond, & Back River 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
Bourne	Notice of Intent	25-WP94-0001-APP

What the filings mean

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.

A note on the name. MassDEP's map writes Phinneys without an apostrophe, and groups the harbour with Eel Pond and Back River. This Eel Pond is in Bourne and is not the Eel Pond in the Waquoit Bay system.

MassDEP's reports for this area

The studies behind this area, published by MassDEP.

Phinneys Harbor, Eel Pond, & Back River System, Bourne MA - 2006 (2006) — Massachusetts Estuaries Project report
Phinneys Harbor Embayment System TMDLs For Nitrogen (Total) (2008) — Total Maximum Daily Load report CN 247.0

Selling a property here

On the MassDEP nitrogen disclosure form, a seller in Phinney's Harbor 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.