By Bryanna Greenwood, JHBL Staff Member
Half a million residents in Massachusetts depend on the Merrimack River (“River”) for their drinking and tap water.[1] However, many are unaware their drinking and recreational water is possibly contaminated with human feces.[2] The reason: combined sewer overflow (“CSO”).[3] Individuals living along the Merrimack River are mostly oblivious to the hazard flowing from the river to faucets in their home; however this poses serious health risks to vulnerable communities.[4] Both state and local officials in Massachusetts have taken actions to remedy the issue but more can be done, like expediting infrastructure improvements and coordinating a multi-state initiative with New Hampshire.[5]
Mill Cities and CSOs
The Merrimack River flows from New Hampshire through northern Massachusetts depositing in the Atlantic Ocean.[6] In the midst of the American Industrial Revolution, the River created power and supplied energy to mills along its fast-moving banks.[7] As a result, nineteenth century mill cities like Lowell, Haverhill, and Lawrence, Massachusetts have boomed into modern, large cities with repurposed mills.[8] However, mills are not the only relic of the past; these cities, and many others, still use a type of wastewater removal called a combined sewer system.[9]
Combined sewer systems gather all wastewater—sewage and stormwater—into one drain and bring it to the wastewater treatment facility.[10] While running at normal volume, all of the water goes to its designated place.[11] The issue arises when the system experiences an overflow, usually caused by snowmelt or a rainy day.[12] When there is a surge of wastewater, the combined system overflows and raw sewage destined for the treatment facility is dumped into the nearby river.[13] The overflow releases harmful bacteria from sewage and chemicals into the waterway.[14] In 2023 alone, there were 1,943 CSOs across Massachusetts.[15]
Health Issues Associated with CSO Polluted Water
CSO discharges affect populations surrounding the River in multiple ways, most commonly through recreation activities in the water and the consumption of infected shellfish, and drinking water.[16] Exposure to CSO pollution can lead to gastrointestinal illnesses and infections of the eyes, ears, and respiratory system.[17] Vulnerable populations, like children, pregnant women, the elderly, and immunocompromised groups, are especially at risk of disease from pathogens and chemicals dumped into rivers by CSOs.[18]
Current Policies and Circumstances of Mass. CSOs
In 1972, the federal government granted the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) the ability to enforce and regulate water pollution under the Clean Water Act.[19] Through the Clean Water Act, cities with combined sewer systems, like those along the Merrimack River, are required to have a plan to eliminate CSOs into rivers and streams.[20] Lowell, Haverhill, and Lawrence all have articulated plans to reduce CSO pollution.[21] However, remedying an entire city’s sewer system is costly.[22] For example, Manchester, New Hampshire, a former mill city along the Merrimack River, is investing $338 million over the next twenty years to eliminate CSOs.[23]
In early 2021, Governor Baker enacted legislation mandating the public notification to residents living in the community following a CSO event.[24] The Act Promoting Awareness of Sewage Pollution in Public Waters requires notification of CSO events by an email or text subscription, to local news stations, to the board of health, and postings online and on public access points.[25] However, upstream New Hampshire communities are not required to notify the public of CSOs.[26] The lack of a notification mandate is problematic for residents living downstream, who are unaware of the dangers in the water.[27]
Policy Recommendations
Although there are already policies in place to reduce CSO pollution in the Merrimack River, the issue needs to be treated like the urgent health and environmental problem it is.[28] A multi-faceted approach would produce optimal results. Firstly, a coordinated effort between officials in both New Hampshire and Massachusetts to notify residents who live along the Merrimack River when CSO pollution is dumped into the River at any point should be implemented.[29] This would help to reduce immediate risk to residents living along the River.[30] Second, federal and state authorities should provide cities along the Merrimack River with grants to support efforts to alleviate, and ultimately eliminate, CSO events.[31] Using a collective local, state, and federal effort, CSOs can become a thing of the past, leading to healthier cities throughout the Merrimack Valley.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this blog are the views of the author alone and do not represent the views of JHBL or Suffolk University Law School.
Bryanna is a second-year law student with an interest in medical malpractice defense. She received her Bachelor’s degree from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in Political Science in 2021.
[1] See About the Merrimack, EPA (May 26, 2023), https://www.epa.gov/merrimackriver/about-merrimack [https://perma.cc/53UW-Q9SS].
[2] See Sewage Overflow Threatens Merrimack River, Greenbelt Essex Cnty.’s Land Tr., https://ecga.org/Post/Sewage-Overflow-Threatens-Merrimack-River [https://perma.cc/KYE8-49PB].
[3] See Miriam Wasser, Sewage can overflow into Mass. waterways when it rains. Fixing the problem isn’t cheap, WBUR (Oct. 23, 2023), https://www.wbur.org/news/2023/10/23/massachusetts-combined-sewer-overflow-cso-climate-change [https://perma.cc/LUV6-QUND].
[4] See id.
[5] See id.; Sewage Overflow Threatens Merrimack River, supra note 2.
[6] See About the Merrimack, supra note 1. “The Merrimack River begins in central New Hampshire and winds 115 miles south to the Atlantic Ocean in Newburyport, Massachusetts.” Id.
[7] See The Merrimack River, Nat’l Park Serv. (Nov. 9, 2018), https://www.nps.gov/lowe/learn/historyculture/the-merrimack-river.htm [https://perma.cc/6L4G-ATFC]; City History, Haverhill, https://www.cityofhaverhill.com/visitors/city_history/index.php [https://perma.cc/VUF8-GDVD].
[8] See Madeline Bilis, Six Former Massachusetts Mills You Can Live In, Boston Mag. (Aug. 8, 2018), https://www.bostonmagazine.com/property/2018/08/08/massachusetts-mills-condos-apartments/ [https://perma.cc/P2MB-TQB8].
[9] See id.; The Merrimack River, supra note 7; Where Combined Sewer Overflow Outfalls Are Located, EPA (Oct. 5, 2023), https://www.epa.gov/npdes/where-combined-sewer-overflow-outfalls-are-located [https://perma.cc/CFH6-5MNW].
[10] See Wasser, supra note 3. “In a combined system, stormwater runoff and sewage flow through the same pipe to a treatment plant.” Id.
[11] See id.
[12] See id.
[13] See id.; Sewage Overflow Threatens Merrimack River, supra note 2.
[14] See U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, EPA 833-R-04-001, Report to Congress on Impacts and Control of Combined Sewer Overflows and Sanitary Sewer Overflows 6: 1 (2004) [hereinafter “EPA Report”].
[15] See Wasser, supra note 3.
[16] See EPA Report, supra note 14 at 6-7.
[17] See id. at 7.
[18] See id. at 17-18.
[19] See Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. §1251 et seq. (1972).
[20] See Summary of the Clean Water Act, EPA, https://www.epa.gov/laws-regulations/summary-clean-water-act [https://perma.cc/9Q5V-Y62S]; Wasser, supra note 3.
[21] See About the Merrimack, supra note 1.
[22] See Wasser, supra note 3.
[23] See Combined Sewer Overflow, City of Manchester, https://www.manchesternh.gov/Departments/Environmental-Protection/CSO#:~:text=The%20City%20of%20Manchester%20is,Phase%20I%20of%20this%20program. [https://perma.cc/VBK4-8F9T].
[24] See An Act Promoting Awareness of Sewage Pollution in Public Waters, Mass. Ann. Laws ch. 21, § 43 (LexisNexis 2021); Katharine Lange, BREAKING: Governor Signs the Sewage Notification Bill!, Mass. River All. (Feb. 25, 2021), https://www.massriversalliance.org/post/breaking-governor-signs-the-sewage-notification-bill [https://perma.cc/Y5CZ-QKQM].
[25] See Mass. Ann. Laws ch. 21, § 43 (LexisNexis 2021)
[26] See Lisa Rinaldi, CSOs and what is being done, Daily News of Newburyport (Aug. 21, 2023), https://www.newburyportnews.com/news/local_news/csos-and-what-is-being-done/article_278d4c52-3dc0-11ee-8b68-2ff4851ec5d9.html [https://perma.cc/2ZCY-MSKB].
[27] See id.
[28] See EPA Report, supra note 14.
[29] See Mass. Ann. Laws ch. 21, § 43 (LexisNexis 2021); Rinaldi, supra note 26.
[30] See Wasser, supra note 3.
[31] See id.