Brewster Ponds Coalition President Susan Bridges Steps Down

BREWSTER – After six years, a track record of success and a true passion for the ponds of Brewster, Susan Bridges has decided to step down as president of the Brewster Ponds Coalition. 

Bridges, whose term officially ended on Sept. 4, said she will continue to participate within the organization. She was elected treasurer at the board meeting last Thursday and will also fill the membership role, which supports communication and fundraising efforts. 

“I am still going to be very much a part of the ponds coalition,” she said. “I am staying on the board. You know, I can’t give it up. I just really believe in the organization.” 

Bridges grew up in Connecticut but got her start in water testing in New Jersey where she volunteered with the Great Swamp Watershed Association in Morris County. There she participated in water testing as well as fundraising events for the organization. 

Bridges and her husband retired to the Cape in 2016, but she had been visiting the area since 1976. She even worked at Larry’s P.X. when she was in college. 

Bridges graduated from American University with a degree in fine art, and although she is now a fixture in the clean water community, her career was in finance, working for MetLife for over 30 years. 

When she first moved to Brewster, Bridges approached a BPC table at a local farmers market and asked to volunteer as a water tester for cyanobacteria blooms. 

“That’s kind of how I got started, and the next thing I knew, I was president,” she said with a laugh. 

Water testing can be a great introductory volunteer role to get people interested in the organization, and after two years, she was quickly elevated in rank at the organization. As her experience was mainly with horse manure run-off in New Jersey, Bridges said cyanobacteria was something she had never come across before. 

“Now I know more about cyanobacteria and septic systems than I would’ve ever dreamed,” she said. 

Over her six-year tenure as president, Bridges said she is most proud of the group’s role in updates to the integrated water resource management plan (IWRMP). In March, the BPC pushed back on the town’s updates to the plan, saying there was not a large enough focus on wastewater, specifically the impact of wastewater from septic systems on water quality. 

After a BPC-sponsored petition at town meeting sought $300,000 to conduct a town-wide comprehensive wastewater management plan, town officials reached out to the BPC to start conversations about including the necessary updates to the IWRMP — including wastewater management. After finding a path forward, the BPC chose not to back the citizens’ petition. They are currently waiting for the final outline to reflect the IWRMP’s updates. 

The BPC also had a voice in the hot-button topic of wastewater management on the Sea Camps Pond Property if the proposed affordable housing units are approved. While Bridges said she is in favor of affordable housing, she hopes the town is able to locate it in a less sensitive area. The parcel is in the Herring River watershed and Zone II of drinking water wells. 

“It’s not something that is part of the ponds coalition’s mission specifically,” she said. “But at the Long Pond property, where else in town do we have over 50 acres of undeveloped property?” The more undeveloped land that they can help the Brewster Conservation Trust purchase, the more resources they will have to protect the ponds in those areas, she added. 

Bridges has always had a love of volunteer work. In New Jersey she served as PTO president, was a board of education member, worked with the Family Promise homeless shelter and volunteered with Literacy for America. When she moved to Brewster, she volunteered with Food4Kids and was a board member for Nauset Neighbors. 

She is currently a member of the Creative Arts Center in Chatham, the Guild of Chatham Painters and the Provincetown Art Association and Museum.

  The mission of the BPC is to ​protect and improve the health of Brewster's ponds

​through science, education and advocacy. Right now, the organization is keeping a close eye on the updates to the IRWMP, the completion of the pond management plan and continuing to help facilitate a number of pond studies. 

Bridges said the BPC intends to fund two or three of the pond studies that are in the works. Previously, they partnered with the town to split the cost of the engineering study at Walkers Pond on pollution remediation, volunteered to do the septic system mapping research this past spring and continued to support cyanobacteria testing efforts. 

“We want to continue to work with [the town] and feel like it’s a good relationship,” she said. “We’d like to work with them on identifying stormwater remediation projects, the pond management plan pond studies and the integrated water resource management plan.” 

John Keith, who previously served as the vice president of the BPC, stepped into the president’s role after he was elected on Sept. 4. 

Keith is a founding member of the BPC and a semi-retired environmental engineer. He also currently sits on the town’s board of health. 

Bridges said the success of the BPC is largely determined by the people who make up the organization. She credited Keith with the study that they are embarking on which will test the flow of phosphorus from septic systems to ponds. 

“Nobody else would have come up with that study,” she said. “The individuals kind of take us in a direction that has been amazing.” 

Bridges gave accolades to many of the members’ dedication to the cause. 

“They join and they have superpowers,” she said. “I didn’t have any superpowers, so I got to be president.” 

The BPC has multiple ways of getting involved including tiers of membership, volunteer opportunities and business partnerships. For more information, visit brewsterponds.org.