By Julia Blatt, Executive Director, Massachusetts Rivers Alliance
As Massachusetts observes World Water Day this year, our state’s communities have particular reason to celebrate. The Massachusetts legislature recently enacted (and Governor Baker signed into law) a state sewage notification bill. This important new law has been a long time coming.
World Water Day falls on March 22nd of each year. Since it first became a United Nations Observance Day in 1993, World Water Day has served as a time to think about, and take action to address, the water crisis. In 2021, World Water Day focuses on the environmental, social and cultural value people place on water. The day provides Massachusetts residents an opportunity to consider the importance of clean water. Clean water is not something to take for granted.
By WHAV Staff |
Congresswoman Lori Trahan during an earlier appearance on 97.9 WHAV. (WHAV News file photograph.)
Local demands for federal help eliminating sewage discharges into the Merrimack River are being heard as Congresswoman Lori Trahan introduced bipartisan legislation requiring communities receive help paying for upgrades.
Trahan and Illinois Republican Darin LaHood reintroduced the Stop Sewage Overflow Act, designed to ensure the federal government does its part to support the cleanup and prevention of combined sewage overflows contamination in rivers across the nation.
“Combined sewage overflows continue to plague communities along the Merrimack River, and the federal government’s wilting support for efforts to prevent future polluting overflows has only made matters worse,” said Trahan, adding, “The Stop Sewage Overflow Act will finally put an end to decades of Washington’s determination to pass the buck for wastewater system upgrades onto state and local
March 8, 2021
On Feb. 24, the University of Maine continued its winter gardening series with “Nibbling on Natives in Your Backyard and Beyond,” a free webinar for students and staff. The UMaine Department of Horticulture hosted the talk, and Kate Garland, a horticulture professional for UMaine Extension, moderated it. Russ Cohen, author of “Wild Plants I have Known…and Eaten,” who also is an expert forager, was the main speaker of the webinar. He gave a presentation on over two dozen common backyard and houseplants that are edible.
Cohen is a natural food enthusiast and naturalist that grew up in Weston, Massachusetts. He grew up spending a lot of his time in the woods. After taking a mini course in edible botany in his second year of high school, he grew fond of the subject, and turned it into his passion. He discovered that over two dozen varieties of edible plants surrounded Weston High School. Currently, Cohen resides in Arlington, Massachusetts, where he continues
With a snow storm coming a Cambridge Works truck fills up with brine from the tanks at the brine mixing station at Danehy Park. (Robin Lubbock/WBUR)
A three-story-tall gate creaks open, and reveals a warehouse filled to the brim with brown crystals. It’s a mountain of rock salt.
“We filled this shed this past week,” says T.J. Shea, Cambridge’s superintendent of streets. Shea is what some might call a “snow fighter.” It’s his job to keep roads dry all winter using this salt at Cambridge’s Public Works facility in Danehy Park. There’s more than a thousand tons of salt here – equal in weight to about nine blue whales. But Shea says it won’t last long.
Sewage discharge law correct step for public health (Editorial)
Updated Feb 24, 2021;
In Sept. 2019, a malfunction at a Springfield pump station triggered 90,000 gallons of untreated sewage released into the Connecticut River. Two months earlier, in South Hadley, a split in an 8-inch bypass led to a discharge of 284,193 gallons of raw sewage into the river.
The bill requires operators to alert local boards of health within 2 hours of any sewer spill and also provide updates every eight hours until the spill is contained. The signing of this bill is a major victory for public health and transparency. Previous rules dictated operators to notify the Department of Environmental Protection within 24 hours.