More on Sewage Spill in NH

Millions of disks, tons of raw sewage spilled from Hooksett plant

By DAN O'BRIEN
Union Leader Correspondent
Wednesday, Mar. 16, 2011

HOOKSETT – The number of small, plastic disks that escaped from the Hooksett Wastewater Treatment Plant is much higher than previously thought, according to local and state officials.

Between 4 million and 8 million disks spilled out of an overflowing tank, along with about 300,000 gallons of raw sewage, and into the Merrimack River on March 6.

It was originally thought the number of escaped disks was in the hundreds of thousands.

Officials did not realize the severity of the problem until five days after the spill when disks were discovered along the Merrimack River shoreline between Hooksett and Newburyport, Mass., where some beaches were closed.

The state Department of Environmental Services said the disks do not pose a health risk and the vast majority of disks did not test positive for harmful bacteria.

The disks, officially known as Biolfilm Chip M Media, are not much larger than the size of a quarter. They were introduced to the plant last November in a ceremony that included Gov. John Lynch and touted as a new sewage treatment method that reduced the number of aeration tanks that needed to be built, saving the town $1 million.

Hooksett is potentially facing a penalty of $25,000 per violation, per day, according to Assistant Attorney General Allen Brooks, chief of the Attorney General Office's Environmental Protection Bureau.

State and local officials confirmed the Hooksett plant had not installed an alarm system on the sewage tanks that would have alerted workers to an overflow until the day after the spill.Investigators are still determining if a fine will be issued.

"Everything they did will be considered," Brooks said.

DES is trying to recruit volunteers to help clean up the disks along beaches in New Hampshire and northern Massachusetts.

Sewage Dumping on Long Island, NY

Update: The Central Long Island Chapter will be hosting another meeting on on March 1, 2011 with the Comissioner of Nassau County Public Works speaking on the sewage dumping in Reynold's Channel and answering questions from the public on what the County is doing to remedy this situation and fix the problems at the Bay Park Sewage Treatment Plant.

The Central Long Island Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation hosted a capacity crowd on January 20, 2011 at the Long Beach Public Library. Most of the crowd had turned out to hear Scott Bochner, a local surfer and resident turned environmental activist, speak about his discovery of the Bay Park Sewage Treatment Plant's illegal dumping of sewage sludge into the local waters of Reynold's Channel.

photo credit: www.longislandpress.com

After Scott started noticing the brown, discolored water in the Bay close to his home he started posting videos of the discharge on YouTube. He then got on the phone and began calling every elected official, local and state health and environmental agency, and members of the press to bring attention to this disgusting and flagrant pollution of the local water ways.

With the help of an online petition and some local media attention, Scott and a group of other like-minded individuals dubbed the Sludge Stoppers, finally succeeded into shaming and embarassing the Nassau County Executive, who is ultimately responsible for this County-run facility, into finally beginning to take some corrective steps to fix what seems like a comedy of errors at the poorly run and neglected sewage treatment plant, something the hollow threats of fines from the NY State Department of Environmental Conservation were unable to accomplish.

Scott, the Sludge Stoppers, and other concerned citizens are now keeping a close eye on the County and the plant to make sure the dumping stops and the County follows through on their promises to change the management, fix broken equipment and upgrade the facility and its operations. The energy that was created by Scott's presentation at the Surfrider meeting bred a new citizen task force that will help monitor the plant's activities and push the County to take even more steps to protect the health of its local waterways and citizens, including faster water testing, timely and online posting of water quality data, and public notification of future sewage discharges to protect the people that fish, swim, and otherwise recreate in these waters.

Scott's speech really illustrated the power of one passionate person armed with a video camera and access to the internet to bring on change in the face of long-standing government neglect and abuse.

photo credit: www.longislandpress.com

For more media coverage of this issue check out:

Bay Park Sewage Plant Still Dumping Waste In Fishing Waters

Ad Hoc Group: Stop Dumping Sewage in the Bay

Activists want Bay Park sewage discharges to stop

Combined Sewer Overflows Continue to Plague the Olympic Peninsula

Combined Sewer Overflows continue to pollute our nation's rivers, bays & beaches. Recent heavy rains in Port Angeles, Washington caused sewage overflows to discharge into the harbor this week. This is an issue the Olympic Coast Chapter has been concerned about for years now. Unfortunately the State did not get it together to pass a new Clean Water bill this year that would have collected funds from the oil industry to help clean up stormwater pollution and fix ongoing problems such as these CSOs in Port Angeles.

See the below press released issued by Clallam County.

"Due to heavy rains on Monday, the four combined sewer overflow (CSO) outfalls in Port Angeles discharged approximately 1.3 million gallons of a mixture of stormwater and raw sewage into Port Angeles Harbor. Two of the CSO outfalls are near Hollywood Beach. Clallam County Environmental Health Division recommends avoiding contact with waters in Port Angeles Harbor 48 hours following rainfall. Contact with fecal contaminated waters can result in gastroenteritis, skin rashes, upper respiratory infections, and other illnesses. Children and the elderly may be more vulnerable to waterborne illnesses. The City of Port Angeles is currently designing a project to significantly reduce the frequency and volume of these discharges. Provided the City receives adequate funding, this project will be constructed beginning in July of 2011. For questions about the advisory, contact Clallam County Environmental Health at 417-2543. For more information about the Port Angeles combined sewer overflows, visit www.cityofpa.us/CSO.htm or call 417-4811."

Sewage Spill in Southern California

Sewage spills, leaks and overflows continue to pollute our beach water and are the 2nd major culprit behind swimming advisories and beach closures issued in this country (stormwater runoff is the first). Another big sewage spill just occurred in Southern California on September 29, 2010.

Los Angeles County health officials closed a two-mile stretch of beach just south of Ballona Creek near Marina del Rey last week after raw sewage flowed into the ocean. The closures were ordered after a clog in a sewer main caused a manhole near Centinela Avenue and Sepulveda Boulevard to overflow Wednesday, discharging an estimated 500,000 gallons of raw sewage into a storm drain that leads to Ballona Creek and, eventually, the Pacific Ocean. The spill ranks among the worst in the last two years along the Los Angeles County coastline.

Major Marina del Rey sewage spill will keep beach closed for days A blockage in a main sent about 500,000 gallons of raw sewage into a storm drain leading to Ballona Creek. The spill ranks among the worst in the last two years along the Los Angeles County coastline.

October 01, 2010|By Tony Barboza, Los Angeles Times

A major sewage spill that has closed a two-mile stretch of beach near Marina del Rey released about 500,000 gallons of raw sewage into a storm drain that runs to Ballona Creek and eventually spills into the ocean, authorities said.

The spill ranks among the worst in the last two years along the Los Angeles County coastline. The beach will probably remain closed for three days.

Residents reported a manhole overflowing with sewage near Centinela Avenue and Sepulveda Boulevard about 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, said Ron Charles, spokesman for the Los Angeles Public Works Department.

City crews dispatched to the scene determined the spill was caused by a blockage in a sewer main.

"The entire backup amount entered an adjacent storm drain, which discharges to the Sepulveda Channel, and ultimately, the Ballona Creek," Charles said in a statement.

Los Angeles and Culver City work crews diverted the flow of sewage, vacuumed up effluent streaming down a hillside and fixed the backup by about 5:30 p.m.

Dr. Jonathan Fielding, director of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, called it a "major spill," but did not know how much of the sewage had reached the ocean.

The two-mile stretch of beach south of Ballona Creek will remain closed to swimmers and surfers until at least 3 p.m. Saturday, he said.

In January 2006, 2 million gallons of raw sewage spilled from a Manhattan Beach pumping plant after an apparent power failure. Officials launched a massive cleanup after hundreds of thousands of gallons flowed onto the sand and into the ocean.

The last major spill happened in January in South Gate, when 210,000 gallons of sewage flowed through the L.A. River and emptied into Long Beach Harbor, county records show.

County health officials said they are closely monitoring and testing ocean water near the outlet of Ballona Creek. Beaches will reopen when they pass health tests for two consecutive days.

tony.barboza@latimes.com