Assabet River group appealing discharge changes

Marlborough - The Organization for the Assabet River (OAR) is appealing a decision by the state and federal environmental protection organizations, Department of Environmental Protection Agency (DEP) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), to allow Marlborough to increase its wastewater treatment plant discharge into the Assabet River by 44 percent.

Alison Field-Juma, Executive Director of OAR, explained that the organization is appealing the permit because the river does not currently meet the water quality levels mandated in the federal Clean Waters Act. The cities current discharge amount is 2.89 million gallons of wastewater from the Westerly Treatment Center. The permit would allow an increase to 4.15 million gallons. Field-Juma fears this increase will cause the river greater damage and violate the state water quality standards.

Although the city is also appealing the recently approved permit for the modification of discharge from the Marlborough Westerly Wastewater Treatment Plant, it is not appealing the outflow increase. The city is appealing the additional stipulations that were written into the permit that were not previously under consideration.

“We are absolutely concerned about the river,” Mayor Nancy Stevens said. “The water we put out into the river is almost drinkable in terms of water quality.”

Stevens said the city needs to increase the Westerly outflow because it has simply run out of capacity.

“We have a lot of land available for development and clearly every development is going to need sewage but we do not have the capacity at the treatment plant to process the wastewater,” Stevens said.

The Westerly Wastewater Treatment Plant, which discharges into the Assabet River, processes wastewater from both Marlborough and Northborough. Field-Juma explained that OAR is not against economic development and is aware that the city is looking for the increase to accommodate future development.

“The cheapest way to deal with the waste water is to put it into the river, but 40 percent of that water which is not meeting the federal clean water regulations makes up the drinking water for Billerica,” Field-Juma said. “There are alternative ways of treating and disposing of water, we feel like there are better options.”

Conscious of maintaining a balance in protecting the Assabet River and maintaining economic development for the city, Mayor Stevens said that in the past they required developers to pick a Inflow and Infiltration (I and I) project that would put three gallons of water from natural flow sources back into the river for every one gallon of wastewater used. However all of those projects have been completed.

“The capacity limit has a direct eff ect on the community’s commercial back which is what provides the opportunity to continue our services,” Stevens said.

Aware of the city’s desire to increase its commercial base, Field-Juma is concerned that the city’s current discharge amount before the 44 percent increase is not enough to meet the current clean water regulations so the increase, she feels, is a movement in the wrong direction.

“It is a well established fact that the river is impaired,” Field-Juma said.

Knee deep in multi-million dollar upgrades to the city’s wastewater treatment plants, Mayor Stevens said they have a philosophical diff erence in the quality of the effluents that the city puts into the river.

The permit appeals are now subject for review and investigation by the state and federal environmental protection agencies.