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EPA and DEP Settle Permit Appeal with Upper Blackstone Water Pollution District

Release Date: 08/13/2001
Contact Information: Peyton Fleming, Press Office, (617-918-1008)

BOSTON — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection announced today a settlement of a discharge permit appealed by the owner of a wastewater treatment facility in Millbury. The facility, owned and operated by the Upper Blackstone Water Pollution Abatement District, serves Worcester and four other communities in central Massachusetts.

The district appealed the permit issued jointly by DEP and EPA in September 1999. The district's appeal challenged numerous terms of the permit.

The facility, which can treat up to 56 million gallons per day, discharges into the Blackstone River, which flows from Massachusetts into Rhode Island and is a major source of freshwater to Narragansett Bay.

The settlement will put into place more stringent effluent discharge limits that will result in better protection of the Blackstone River.

"This agreement is a big victory for protecting the Blackstone River," said Robert W. Varney, regional administrator of EPA's New England Office. "It means we can now move forward with important sewage plant upgrades that will significantly reduce pollutant discharges into the river."

"With this agreement, we have taken a significant step toward ensuring a brighter future for the Blackstone River, which is not only a valuable natural resource, but an important link to our nation's past," added Lauren Liss, commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection.

Among the proposed permit revisions under the settlement are a change in the effluent flow limit; recalculation of the winter ammonia limit based on a more recent EPA ammonia criteria document; recalculation of metals limits based on additional in-stream hardness data; incorporation of more detailed requirements regarding efforts to eliminate excessive infiltration and inflow; and correction of certain provisions in the permit regarding sludge monitoring.

As with any other permit modification, EPA and DEP will seek public comment on the proposed changes. The comment period will run for 30 days.

The Blackstone River flows from Worcester into Rhode Island, where it discharges into the Seekonk River in Pawtucket. The Blackstone is a major source of freshwater to Rhode Island's most important resource, Narragansett Bay, a productive and diverse estuary important for fishing, shell fishing, tourism and recreation.

EPA, DEP and Rhode Island environmental officials have coordinated efforts to cleanup the river for many years. In 1991, EPA established the Blackstone River Initiative, which focused on an intensive environmental sampling and assessment program. Participants included EPA, the University of Rhode Island, MA-DEP and the R.I. Department of Environmental Management. The initiative has served as the foundation for a number of additional projects and reports, including the development of permits for facilities in both Massachusetts and Rhode Island.