Newly elected Joseph Ashley will be in the thick of debate during his first appearance as Deputy Moderator. Nineteen-year-old Ashley has been tasked to preside over controversial warrant article 42, an attempt to repeal the nitrogen net-zero bylaw, during Town Meeting Tuesday night.

Although she was given the OK by Town Counsel, Town Moderator Claire Smith has elected not to moderate the article. Smith told voters Monday she felt presiding over the article could present an appearance of a conflict of interest since her husband is the owner of Smith’s Cesspool Service.

Being a natural product of all of our bathroom activity, a lot of nitrogen pollution comes from incompletely treated septic waste. The worst polluters are failed septic systems. The town’s sewage treatment plants remove only about 75% of the nitrogen in waste water, according to Water Pollution Control Facility Director Guy Campinha.

Nitrogen also comes from fertilizer: on lawns, on cranberry bogs, on golf courses, etc.

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