COVID Recovery Bill Takes Aim at a Nasty, Old Problem

Friday, September 24, 2021

FIRST OF TWO PARTS

The big problem that Massachusetts has always had with combined sewer overflows got a whole lot worse this year because of the many heavy rainstorms we've had.

Combined sewer overflows (CSOs) occur mainly in older municipalities with antiquated sewage systems.  These communities have some old pipes that must do double-duty: carry both rainwater run-off and sewage.  It's a problem, for example, in Lynn, Gloucester, Lawrence, Lowell, Fitchburg, Holyoke and Springfield.

When there's lots of rain, wastewater system operators in these places have no choice but to mix untreated sewage with rainwater and send that noxious mix into natural bodies of water, such as rivers.  Otherwise, sewage would back up into homes and other buildings.

That means lots of human waste floating here and there after heavy rainstorms, endangering human health, as well as aquatic life and riverine ecosystems.  The dangers become particularly acute in cases like that of the Merrimack River, which has long served as the drinking water supply for several Merrimack Valley communities, such as Lowell, Methuen, Andover, Tewksbury and Lawrence.

From January through August of this year, there were 80 separate CSOs  into waterways within the service zone of the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority.  The MWRA estimates those discharges put a total of 594 million gallons of water-sewage mix into various waterways.  Compare that to the entirety of  2020, when there were 58 separate CSOs containing 259 million gallons in total, according to the MWRA.

The problem, so far this year, is 129% worse than in all of last year!  

We have one month (September) not yet accounted for and three months (October, November, December) to come when the problem could become extreme.

To gain a sharper perspective on the ugliness of this all, I did some calculations on how many acre-feet of water-sewage mix you can have with a CSO.  (An acre-foot describes an acre of land covered by a liquid to a uniform depth of one foot.)  I figured that the 594 million gallons of CSOs we've had from January through August of this year in the MWRA zone could have covered the entire 33 acres of Boston's gleaming new Seaport District to a depth of nearly two feet.

Fortunately, there are solutions on the horizon.

Governor Charlie Baker recently filed a bill that proposes to spend up to $400 million in federal COVID-19 relief funds for the Commonwealth on upgrades to water and sewer infrastructure, with a special focus on lessening CSOs.

House Bill 3922, An Act Relative to Immediate COVID Recovery Needs, would make those improvements under the auspices of the state's Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs.  

On September 9, EOEEA Secretary Kathleen Theoharides provided remote testimony in favor of the bill to members of the House Ways & Means Committee.  At the time, she was sitting at a table set on the banks of the Merrimack River in Lawrence.

Pointing out that 130 million gallons of untreated sewage had flowed into the Merrimack over a span of two days recently during Tropical Storm Ida, Theoharides said, "The time to invest in adaptation is now.  It's not tomorrow or the next day."  She was referring to climate change adaptation.  

Scientists have conclusively determined that climate change caused by global warming is producing more frequent and more intense storms in certain parts of the globe.  Such storms are exacerbating the problem of CSOs in Massachusetts.

Water and sewer system upgrades are only one (relatively modest) part of the HB3922 cornucopia:  overall, the bill would spend $2.9 billion of federal funds on various and multiple projects throughout the state.

NEXT: A look at HB3922's many components.  To say this bill is a major spending plan is a gross understatement.  It is an historic piece of legislation.


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