b'C H A P T E R N I N Einstalling a sewer for downtown almost inevitable. By the end of 1973, more than 100 homes and businesses were tied into a new underground system. But hard evidence showed that this was scarcely a total cure: somehow, some way, threatening bacteria still migrated into Oyster Pond. And when the state closed the pond for shellfishing in 1983, livelihoods were hit hard, and Town Hall heard about it. By the next year, Chatham had its own small laboratory to do the testing that county labs were too overloaded to do quickly. This facility came to be Bob Duncansons headquarters when he reported for duty in 1987. For him, it was a good fit. It involved a lot of fieldwork; he liked that. Also, hed be quite independent, reporting straight to the Town Manager, not getting pulled into other arenas, he recalls. For me, that was very attractive.And, with his doctorate from University of Rhode Island, he had very applicable academic underpinnings: his dissertation dealt with a coliform membrane filtration method for public drinking supplies.Thus, the stage was set for creating a water watchers projectbut not until the Nineties came around the corner. The starters pistol actually went off when the state approved Chathams Comprehensive Harbor ManagementWith the change in its form of governPlan (CHMP) in August 1994. The pacement during the mid-Nineties, Chatham was slow, painfully so for activists. Thehired Tom Groux as first Town Manager. first hazard to overcome involvedaThat was an acknowledgement that mandate for the selectmen to formgoverning a community like Chatham CHMPs implementation committee. was becoming more and more complex.Cape Cod ChronicleIt was late in 1995 before that happened.Among its members, three were drawn from the FCW board:Kurt Hellfach, Pat Siewert and Martha Stone. They share a middle initial: A, for Action!Among requirements in CHMP, one called for Water Quality Monitoring, to provide a baseline for nitrogen concentrations in the Stage Harbor system.There should be four rounds of samples taken from three locations: the middle of Oyster Pond, Mill Pond, and Stage Harbor. Essentially, this task would fall to Bob Duncanson, his small lab staff, and their one boat. They faced variegated details: deciding what substances they should be looking for, writing a testing protocol, setting up a budget, buying the sophisticated measuring gear. In the ways of Town management, all that would take time. And Duncanson had160'