Sulfur Springs & Bucks Creek

Sulfur Springs / Bucks Creek

A designated Natural Resource Nitrogen Sensitive Area covering Chatham.

On MassDEP's address map, this area is called Stage Harbor/Oyster Pond, Sulphur Springs/Bucks Creek, and Taylors Pond/Mill Creek Embayment Systems. 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.

The same area on the map also covers Taylors Pond / Mill Creek, Stage Harbor. MassDEP's application table lists those separately from this one; the map does not divide them. For a property here, that distinction does not change the answer — each town's filing is the same across the whole area.

What each town filed

Town	Filing	Transmittal
Chatham	Notice of Intent	23-WP94-0010-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 spells this "Sulphur Springs"; the watershed application table spells it "Sulfur Springs".

MassDEP's reports for this area

The studies behind this area, published by MassDEP. They cover the whole Stage Harbor/Oyster Pond, Sulphur Springs/Bucks Creek, and Taylors Pond/Mill Creek Embayment Systems area rather than Sulfur Springs / Bucks Creek on its own.

Stage Harbor/Oyster Pond, Sulphur Springs/Bucks Creek and Taylors Pond/Mill Creek Chatham, MA - 2007 (2007) — Massachusetts Estuaries Project report
Nitrogen TMDL Report for Five Chatham Embayments (Stage Harbor, Sulphur Springs, Taylors Pond, Bassing Harbor and Muddy Creek) (2009) — Total Maximum Daily Load report CN 206.1

Selling a property here

On the MassDEP nitrogen disclosure form, a seller in Sulfur Springs / Bucks Creek 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.