Editing Cape Cod Bay (section)

== Water resources ==
Cape Cod has abundant water resources. These resources include both saltwater and freshwater. Below is a list of the most important resources.

=== Coastal waters ===
The Atlantic Ocean, Nantucket Sound, Vineyard Sound, Buzzards Bay, and Cape Cod Bay form a 559-mile coastline that surrounds the majority fr of the Cape.<ref name="Waters of the Cape">{{Cite web |title=Waters of the Cape |url=https://capecodwaters.org/overview/ |access-date=2022-05-04 |website=State of the Waters: Cape Cod |language=en-US |archive-date=2022-05-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220525110400/https://capecodwaters.org/overview/ |url-status=live }}</ref> There are 53 saltwater embayments along this extensive stretch of coastline, each of which is formed by a depression or dip in the coastline that forms a bay abutting the ocean.<ref name="Waters of the Cape"/> Estuaries are where rivers and the sea meet. Freshwater, brackish, tidal wetlands, and tidal channels are all found in estuaries. Rivers, streams, and groundwater pour into the ocean's estuaries and embayments on Cape Cod.

=== Freshwater bodies ===
The Cape is home to more than a thousand lakes. Nearly 11,000 acres are covered by 996 freshwater ponds and lakes, with individual ponds and lakes ranging in size from less than one acre to 735 acres and 166 "big ponds" of 10 acres or more.<ref name="Waters of the Cape"/> Groundwater supplies the Cape's ponds and lakes. Groundwater can flow into and out of ponds thanks to the Cape's sandy soils. As a result, pond pollution is likely to pollute groundwater and vice versa.

=== Groundwater ===
The Cape's lifeline is groundwater. Rain and melting snow swiftly sink into the sandy soils, where it pools to form a massive subterranean groundwater reservoir beneath the majority of the Cape.<ref name="Waters of the Cape"/> Groundwater continues to flow into and out of ponds, feeding streams, and flowing towards the coast, finding sea level when it enters our estuaries and embayments, as water seeks the lowest elevation. Drinking water comes entirely from groundwater.<ref name="Waters of the Cape"/> This sole-source aquifer, which is protected by local, regional, state, and federal restrictions, provides all of the Cape's drinking water.<ref name="Waters of the Cape"/>

=== Watersheds ===
[[Watersheds of North America|Watersheds]] connect nearly all of the Cape's waters, fetching water and releasing it into the ocean. There are 101 watersheds on Cape Cod that discharge into the ocean.<ref name="Waters of the Cape"/> 53 of them flow into embayments, which are vulnerable to nitrogen contamination, while the others discharge directly into the ocean. The Cape Cod Commission produced a regional framework for protecting and improving water quality and tracks progress in implementation through the Section 208 Water Quality Management Plan for Cape Cod.<ref name="Waters of the Cape"/>