HOLYOKE — The City of Holyoke continues to eliminate combined sewer overflows (CSO) that cause discharges into the Connecticut River. The Holyoke wastewater system now prevents around 70 percent of solid waste from bypassing the treatment plant during heavy rains. According to Mary L. Monahan, chair of the City’s Board of Public Works, Holyoke was recently awarded $10 million in 2% interest loans (and some principal forgiveness) from the Commonwealth’s State Revolving Fund and a $2 million federal earmark for the River Terrace Sewer Separation project that will increase that reduction level to 85 percent, meet the current national requirements and put the city in full compliance with the Clean Water Act. The city will be bidding this project this fall.
Monahan noted that Holyoke is not the only CSO community discharging untreated wastewater into the Connecticut River as a result of rain events, such as the rain that fell last Friday. CSO communities are required to notify the public when a CSO event occurs. Holyoke doesn’t have a local daily newspaper that meets the required notification timeline, so Holyoke notifies residents via emails, City website updates, and TV news outlets. Unless Holyoke is subject to a unique localized heavy rain event, Monahan stated, other CSO communities in the area, including Springfield and Chicopee, are likely experiencing their own CSO overflows as well. They just have different notification procedures.
When cities were smaller and water treatment did not exist, stormwater and wastewater flowed through a single pipe to be discharged untreated into the nearest river. After the passage of the Clean Water Act in 1972, these pipes were diverted to treatment plants, where sewage, and sometimes stormwater, were treated before discharging the liquids — called effluent — into the river.
As cities have grown, the effluent volume after a heavy rainfall can overwhelm the capacity of the pipes and treatment plants. When that happens, the mixture of stormwater and sewage bypasses treatment and goes directly into the river. This discharge is called a combined sewer overflow, or CSO.
“Holyoke’s efforts to separate combined sewers, which are a legacy of our industrial past,” Monahan stated, “have resulted in significant improvements in water quality. Long time residents and users of the Connecticut River can attest to this. The increase in recreation activity on the Connecticut River is a testament to Holyoke’s commitment and that of the other CSO communities discharging to the river.”
Five of the Massachusetts and Connecticut municipalities through which the Connecticut River passes are CSO communities. Montague, Holyoke, Chicopee, Springfield, and Hartford have been working to reduce CSO discharges for decades. The main challenge is the immense cost of this work. That challenge is exacerbated by the fact that increasing water and sewer rates to pay for much of this work creates issues of affordability for local taxpayers. It’s the reason municipalities, including Holyoke, participate in consent decrees with the federal government. Holyoke’s consent decree outlines a $35-million, long-term control plan through 2035.