Want to Know if Raw Sewage Gets Dumped in Your Local River? There’s a Bill on Baker’s Desk About It
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A MWRA wet weather sewage discharge outfall warning on the Charles River by the outlet of Boston's Muddy River (Robin Lubbock/WBUR)
mong the many bills sitting on Governor Baker’s desk (Editors note: When this magazine went to print.) is one requiring cities and towns to notify residents any time raw sewage ends up in a local river or water body. As gross and alarming as it sounds, sewage dumps actually happen hundreds of times every year in Massachusetts during heavy rain, because of antiquated sewer systems. They release hundreds of millions of gallons of bacteria-laden waste into waterways like the Charles, Mystic, and Merrimack Rivers, and Boston Harbor, and the problem is expected to worsen as climate change brings heavier and more frequent rainstorms to the region. The bill, if enacted, would require wastewater operators to send out email or text notifications to local and downstream residents within two hours of discovering a sewage discharge, and updates every eight hours for as long as the problem persists. They will also have to publish information online about how much sewage-laden water was released and put up signage near problem areas. First introduced in 2013, a bill establishing the notification system has been kicking around Beacon Hill for three legislative sessions. Recently, both the House and Senate voted overwhelmingly to pass it, a first for this bill and it was delivered to Governor Baker, who now has 10 days to decide whether to sign it.
JANUARY, 2021
If enacted, this notification system will represent a “public health victory for Massachusetts residents” because it will allow people “to make informed decisions on recreation and their own health,” says Patrick Herron, Executive Director of the Mystic River Watershed Association. Emily Norton, Executive Director of the Charles River Watershed Association, agrees. “This bill is really important because people use our rivers. They certainly use the Charles River for boating and recreation, sometimes dogs go into them,” Norton says. “People have the right to know if they’re putting their health at risk.” She adds that the need for this bill is especially acute because we know the coronavirus has been detected in wastewater. “If that’s in our rivers, people have a right to know.” Full data about sewage discharges during 2020 is not yet available, but recent data from the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority shows that on Christmas Day, at least 29 million gallons of sewage water was discharged into Boston Harbor, the Mystic River, and the Fort Point Channel during a rainstorm that dropped 1.49 inches of water. In 2018, a particularly bad year for sewage discontinued on page 53
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