Dave Martin A view down the Charles River from the Bridge on North Beacon Street.
The City Council sent a letter to the MWRA opposing allowing sewage overflow from being released into the Charles River and returning to the days when the river was a “dumping ground for sewage.”
The Council voted unanimously to support the letter at the Dec. 9 meeting.
City Council President Mark Sideris said Watertown has invested in cleaning up the river.
“For many years, we’ve had loan orders to pay for cleaning up the illicit discharges into the river,” Sideris said. “So it’s prudent upon us to support sending a letter like this. And I’m glad that we’re going to be doing this.”
Councilor John Gannon said allowing combined sewage overflow discharges would be a return to the bad days of the river.
“I completely support the letter to the MWRA. I was frankly disgusted that the MWRA had sought to allow combined sewer overflows continue to be dumped in our Charles River and enter the Boston Harbor,” Gannon said. “I’ve actually been reading a book about the cleanup of the Boston Harbor that took place back starting over 40 years ago, and it’s no time to go back to the disgusting, filthy situation that Charles River and the Boston Harbor was in way back when.”
The combined sewage is when storm drains and sanitary sewers come together when they fill up with storm water during a heavy rainstorm and the pipes are not big enough for both, causing an overflow, said Council Vice President Vincent Piccirilli.
“That’s how the poop ends up in the river,” Piccirilli said. “But the good news is, Watertown, in its entire history, never had combined sanitary and storm sewers. We always had two completely separate piping systems. So Watertown was ahead of the curve, and has not ever contributed to this problem, unlike some of our neighboring cities that have. So I just want to give a shoutout to the people who came before us in Watertown for their foresight in doing that.”
Gannon said the areas on the Charles where the combined sewage overflow takes place are along the stretches of the river in Boston and Cambridge.
See the City Council’s letter to the MWRA, below:
To the MWRA Board,
We are writing regarding the future of the Charles River and goals related to reducing or eliminating combined sewer overflow (CSO) discharges. We were pleased you tabled the November 19 vote on the misguided recommendation to downgrade the water quality classification of the Charles and allow more sewage discharges in coming years.
As elected officials within the Charles River watershed, we urge you to support the highest level of CSO control.
Our long term residents remember when the Boston Harbor and Charles River were lifeless and reeked of sewage. They remember the presidential campaign when George HW Bush came to Boston to embarrass Governor Dukakis for having the “most polluted harbor in America.” The cleanup of the Boston Harbor is considered one of the greatest environmental achievements in our nation’s history. Why would we clean it up, only to turn it back into a dumping ground for sewage?
Our residents care deeply about clean water and the health of the Charles River. We are well aware that the Charles is much cleaner than it was, and MWRA is to be commended for its prior work to reduce sewage overflows. We are also aware that MWRA ratepayers, including our residents, have paid for the improvements to date, improvements we don’t want to see erased.
We vehemently oppose any attempts to downgrade the water quality standards classification of the Charles River to a Class B (CSO). This would be a disastrous result, making the status quo a river regularly polluted with sewage and unsafe for recreation and disincentivizing any future efforts to clean it up.
Let us be clear: our residents want and deserve a clean and healthy Charles River. They have invested in the cleanup to date, they want to see the job finished. They want to see the Charles safe enough for boating, they want it safe enough for swimming, they want to end the practice of using it as a sewer.
We are doing our part to clean up the Charles River by honoring our obligations and reducing stormwater pollution under the MS4 permit. And when it comes to sewage, we are not allowed to be doing what MWRA is doing, dumping it into the river; under the MS4 permit, if we detect an illicit discharge, we are obligated to “locate, confirm the source(s), and eliminate the illicit discharge as expeditiously as possible” because “discharges from an MS4 that are mixed with an illicit discharge … remain unlawful until eliminated.” Unlike the MWRA, we are not granted a variance from the water quality standards for decades. To see MWRA attempting to shirk its responsibilities now, after decades of investment, is not acceptable to us.
We are doing our part, we are asking you to do your part to finish the job of cleaning up the Charles River.
Sincerely,
Mark Sideris, City Council President
City of Watertown ELECTED OFFICIALS
Mark S. Sideris, Council President
Vincent J. Piccirilli, Jr., Vice President & District C Councilor
John M. Airasian, Councilor At Large
Caroline Bays, Councilor At Large
John G. Gannon, Councilor At Large
Anthony Palomba, Councilor At Large
Nicole Gardner, District A Councilor
Lisa J. Feltner, District B Councilor
Emily Izzo, District D Councilor