Save the Bay Calls for Enforcement Action Against Discharges Into Blackstone River

Save the Bay Calls for Enforcement Action Against Discharges Into Blackstone River

The ongoing illegal discharge of partly treated sewage into the Blackstone River has now gone on for a full week.

This is the second time in nine months that the Woonsocket Regional Wastewater Treatment Facility has failed.

The facility is owned by the City of Woonsocket and is managed by two companies — Synagro and Jacobs.

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“These discharges of sewage into the Blackstone are unacceptable. They are an insult to the river and everyone who uses it and depends on it,” said Save the Bay’s Kate McPherson, the Narragansett Bay Riverkeeper.

“They are also a violation of the Clean Water Act.  Clearly, something is very wrong with operations at the Woonsocket facility,” said McPherson.

DEM tells GoLocal that the problems at the facility continue.

“The advisory on the Blackstone River is still in effect. The plant’s treatment capability appeared to be stabilizing since the weekend, but yesterday the plant had a washout where cloudy, highly concentrated wastewater was discharged. Typically, fully treated wastewater is clear,” said DEM spokesperson Michael Healey.

“We are directing the city and its contractors to fix the plant’s gravity belt thickener, which is causing the current upset. A gravity belt thickener helps separate solids from the water in wastewater treatment,” added Healey on Wednesday night.

 

"Shocking" No Penalties to Date

“We are in the process of gathering facts but in the short term, the unlawful discharges must stop and the problems corrected.  It is shocking that no formal notice of violation with penalties has been issued,” said McPherson.

The failure by the same facility in June caused DEM to issue an advisory then, too.

“Enforcement matters, there must be strong and immediate action taken as a consequence of dumping of sewage into the Blackstone and to deter future violations,” added McPherson.

Last Wednesday, Healey is an email to GoLocal admitted that these incidents have not been managed well.

“The City of Woonsocket and the vendor that operates its wastewater treatment plant, Jacobs, need to get their act together. And as the regulator, DEM does too. Once the most polluted river in America, the Blackstone has seen radical improvements in water quality since the passage of the Clean Water Act in 1972,” said Michael Healey, spokesperson for DEM to GoLocal.

DEM estimates that 8.5 million gallons a day of improperly treated sewage have been discharged into the Blackstone.