In conjunction with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) efforts to improve the health of New England’s waterways, the town of Belmont, Massachusetts, will address stormwater pollution affecting the Mystic River watershed.
Despite recent repairs, cracks and leaks allowed sewer material to pervade the system, affecting surface waters in the tributaries of Winn's Brook, Wellington Brook, and the Little River, which prompted the EPA to issue an administrative order for Belmont to implement a five-year cleanup plan, according to a press release. The action aligns with the federal government’s broader program coordinating water health across multiple communities in the state.
EPA New England assesses the Mystic River watershed annually; after detecting bacterial pollutants in tributaries during 2015 resulting in very poor ratings of F to D+, the agency opted to require the town to create a remediation plan, examine its sanitary sewer system and perform cleanup of “illicit discharges” over the next half-decade.
Since initiating its cleanup campaign for the Boston Harbor region, EPA New England reported that it has successfully eradicated over 37,000 gallons of sewage daily from reaching storm drains in the Mystic River watershed; and, likewise, has eliminated almost 200,000 gallons of sewage previously discharging into the general Boston Harbor watershed overall.
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