SHREWSBURY – A recent sewage spill has prompted the Lake Quinsigamond Commission to potentially reevaluate the penalties for polluting the lake.
The City of Worcester reported that roughly 193,300 gallons of untreated wastewater was released into Lake Quinsigamond on Feb. 20 around the area of 65 Lake Avenue. Although city crews immediately responded to the sewage overflow, the wastewater entered the lakestream, and residents were warned of heightened E. coli levels.
In February 2022, a sewage pump located on Lake Avenue – near the pipes responsible for the 2024 overflow – released over 5.75 million gallons of sewage into Lake Quinsigamond overnight. The overflow garnered widespread attention as residents were told to stay off the lake. While the health advisory on the lake was eventually lifted, residents report seeing sewage sediment at the bottom of the lake two years later.
In response to the 2022 overflow, Worcester was fined $13,000 by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection for violating the state’s Clean Water Act. The city vowed to improve the Lake Avenue pumping station, including building an emergency backup pumping system. The station pumps nearly 20 million gallons of wastewater daily.
The Lake Avenue station had been responsible for another 100,000-gallon-plus spill in 2017.
Members of the Lake Quinsigamond Commission voiced frustration about the latest spill at the board’s Feb. 29 meeting. Commission member Michael Paika – who said that the “[spills] happe[n] and happe[n] too often” after the 5.75-million-gallon spill in 2022 – commented on Feb. 29 that he’s been “riled” by the overflows.
“We’ve had lots of discussions about this. Fines? Yeah. Insults to the lake that shouldn’t happen? Yes. Should they fix it so it doesn’t happen again? Yes. But short of rerouting sewer lines along the lake at Lake Ave. and finding another way to pump it up Belmont Hill… It’s a [huge] project that I don’t think will be done shortly or with the snap of a finger. It’s frustrating, let me just say that. It’s very frustrating. I would like to think the city is getting better and more sensitive to it,” he said.
When someone pollutes Lake Quinsigamond, the offender is violating the commission’s Rule 2, which states that “no person shall illegally discharge sewage, thermal pollution, siltation or any other substance which by itself or in combination with any other substance might tend to create a public nuisance into Lake Quinsigamond or into Flint Pond or Hovey Pond, or tributaries thereto, or all of them, in the county of Worcester.”
The rule also covers littering on the shoreline.
Violators of the commission’s rules – which were created in 2005 and last updated in 2017 – can only be punished by fines of between $50 and $500 per incident. If the commission were to exercise Rule 2 to the fullest extent against Worcester for the recent 193,300-gallon spill, the city would face a fine of $500. The commission did not expressly determine whether it would attempt to fine the city.
There’s also the issue of whether local courts would uphold the fine.
The commission may adopt a rule in the future to have more consequences for polluters.
“We can vote to increase [the fine amount] or we probably could vote on a specific rule to invoke a specific fine for a specific offense on something,” Lake Quinsigamond Commission Chair Peter Collins said at the Feb. 29 meeting.
“In fairness to the city, it’s not just the city that has an occasional sewer spill,” he said.
