b'C H A P T E R T W E L V EAnchors Aweigh!On a morning in late June 03, three men of ChathamCharlie Christie, George Hall, and Gordon Zellnergot together around some cups of coffee. They were slated to go out the next morning to CM-2, their testing station, where Oyster River blends into Stage Harbor. They felt it was time to review the protocols theyd been following for four years as veteran Chatham Water Watchers. And, on top of that, it gave them a chance to relax into camaraderie.The volunteer stint in the C. W W project has matured to a point where participants almost feel that they own it. But theres a lot more at issue here. The squadron of small boats that goes to testing stations biweekly in the summer may not be as important historically as the flotilla of little craft that rescued 300,000 Allied troops from the dunes of Dunkirk in 1940, before Nazi units could obliterate them. But in the lifeline of Chatham history, the C. W W vessels are hugely important. The town has no bigger problem than the gradual poisoning of its waterways from the irresponsibilities of man on shore. And the figures collected by the 140 FCW-recruited water testers are becoming the keystone of evidence in the ongoing Waste Water Management Study. If Chatham is to wind up with, say, a network of sewers to protect the waterways, then the C. W W research will be crucial in persuading residents that they have no other choice than to spend $30 to $50 million on such platinum remedies.Quite properly, FCWs co-shepherd (with Martha Stone) of the C. W W program, George Olmsted, has labeled it one of FCWs greatest triumphs. Bob Duncanson, director of the Towns Department of Health & Environment, has pointedly voiced his gratitude to the volunteers for their participation. But it helps measurably when someone from outside the community, someone who has valued regional perspective, speaks up in the same vein. This was the contribution made by Dr. Brian Howes, senior fellow at U-Mass Dartmouths School for Marine Science and Technology. In town this June to report on the signally important Estuaries Project, he said that the activities of Chatham Water Watchers had saved the town a ton of money and provided very high quality data. And he predicted that the goal set for Chatham -restoring water quality -was reachable.At the edge of the upper parking lot at Chatham Fish Pier stands a metalwork statue of a fishermans hand holding netted fish. Maybe some day there will be a parallel statue of a Chatham Water Watchers hand holding a bulky Niskin water-sampling cylinder.1216'