Climate change will bring heavier storms and our sewers aren’t ready Sabrina Shankman © Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff Volunteer Clarke Esler, of the Merrimack River Watershed Council, takes a water sample from the Merrimack River in Lawrence, MA on July 14, 2021.
If the heavy rains of this summer are emblematic of our future normal as climate change progresses, then so, too, is this: Much of that rainwater overwhelms local sewers, triggering the release of hundreds of millions of gallons of raw, untreated sewage into Massachusetts waterways.
When the rain falls, as it has so many days this month, aging sewers can fill and overflow, spilling pathogen-laden sewage into the same places where people fish, swim, and boat. It’s a problem that plagues the state, even without the expected impact from climate change.
Clean River Project May Leave Haverhill if Denied More Money; Mayor Says Bill Paid by Ratepayers
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Clean River Project's Morrison Says River Law Doesn't Go Far Enough; Officials Say It Was Only First Step
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By John Lee Grant |
February 4, 2021
Rocky Morrison, Ava Valianti and City Councilor Colin F. LePage in 2019. (WHAV News file photograph.)
As the song goes, the City of Boston may love that dirty water, the Clean River Project does not and has been doing something about it.
On Tuesday, the Haverhill City Council heard from Rocky Morrison, who founded the organization in 2005 after seeing piles of trash along the banks of the Merrimack River. At the request of Council Vice President Colin F. LePage, Morrison provided an overview. He told councilors his team pulled more than 20 tons of debris out of the river in the past year alone. Kristen Bachman, office manager for the project, gave examples of what they found.