Environmentalists: Permits Allow For Nitrogen Contamination Of Connecticut River

Springfield, CT, is having significant problems when it comes to its sewage system. It pumps large amounts of pollution into the Connecticut River, which in turn sends it flowing south through the state and into the Long Island Sound.

The Hartford Courant reported that Springfield’s storm drains flush heavy rains into pipes which create a combined sewer outflow that can mix together raw and untreated sewage. That mixture carries excess nitrogen into the river. The fact that this is allowed, according to environmentalists, is the result of “outdated federal permits — which were last issued in 2001 and were supposed to expire in 2005.”

According to Andrea Dolon, the Connecticut River steward for Massachusetts, the U.S. EPA is allowing eight Massachusetts communities along the Connecticut River to continue operating their sewage plants “under permits more than 10 years out of date.”

A spokesman for the Springfield Water And Sewer Commission who spoke to the Courant said that he “agreed that the EPA has long failed to issue updated permits despite repeated requests from the commission.” Meanwhile, Josh Schimmel, the EPA’s executive director said that “Springfield is getting blamed for pollution that's already in the Connecticut River before it ever reaches his city.”

Schimmel added that “280,000 pounds of nitrogen a day is flowing past Springfield from pollution sources upstream,” and that the sewer system only releases about 2,000 pounds of nitrogen a day into the river.

Activists in Springfield have cautioned that the pollution “from the sewage system in Massachusetts runs down river into Long Island Sound and is a major reason why large sections of the Sound end up as summer ‘dead zones’ where there's not enough oxygen for marine life to survive.”

Officials in Connecticut have said that the nitrogen-heavy pollution that is arriving downstream from Springfield and other Massachusetts sewers is violating Connecticut water quality standards.

Similarly, in West Virginia, a House Bill realted to wastewater permitting was voted on earlier this month and opponents have said that it could put West Virginia’s drinking water supply at risk.

West Virginia Public Broadcasting reported that the bill, “...relates to how much of a substance can be released into West Virginia’s waterways under state permits and the places where those permits overlap.”

For similar stories visit Water Online’s Source Water Contamination Solutions Center.