Severe rainstorms, more common with climate change, bring not only flooded basements and puddling on streets and sidewalks, but also increase sewage in many rivers, including the Merrimack.
The dumping of sewage, technically known as Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO), commonly happens during heavy rainstorms when storm water runoff overwhelms the capacity of wastewater treatment plants.
Three bills have been filed with the Massachusetts Legislature that require greater public notification when untreated sewage is dumped into the Merrimack River. Last year, “over 750 million gallons of CSO water was released into the Merrimack -- the largest amount since 2011,” according to the Merrimack River Watershed Council.
Two other bills, one that would create a study commission and a second that would require Massachusetts sewage plants to have backup generators, have also been filed.
There are four sewage treatment plants in the Merrimack River watershed that would be subject to these bills -- Haverhill, greater Lawrence, Lowell and Fitchburg, according to the MRWC. Plants along the Merrimack in New Hampshire would not be subject to the legislation.
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The legislation would require public notification within two hours of a sewage spill, and a color-coded flagging system indicating the level of CSO pollution. Another bill would establish a commission to study and address the health of the river.
The final bill, requiring emergency power generators, follows the dumping of untreated storm water in October, 2017, when the treatment plant in Lawrence lost power.