MA Surfers MUST READ!

http://mass.digitalhealthdepartment.com/public_21/beaches.cfm

Above is a link to the MA dept of health website where you can search for your local beach to find out if it is polluted or not. If you look into the "acceptable levels" of pollution directly poured into our local waters you will be appalled. FYI during rain storms water treatment plants can legally drain tens of thousands a gallons of untreated water directly into the ocean via pipes emptying both directly out of seawalls as well as a couple pipes terminating 3 miles off shore. All of this will have a direct effect on each of us at some point. I have personally gotten rashes covering my entire chest back and waist from surfing certain spots and know of others who have had similar experiences. I have contacted local state representatives regarding this matter repeatedly and urge anyone else who values the cleanliness of our water to do the same. Send an email give a call write a letter... do something before its too late.

 

Below is the letter I received form the Coastal Zone Mgt office in MA. You will be amazed at the acceptable levels of water pollution. There are also contact numbers to contact. I highly urge everyone to send at least an email. I emailed my state rep (James.D.Crowley@state.ma.us) Each of us will have a different representative for our area which can be found on the Mass.gov website. Please email anyone and everyone. Get the word out that this is not acceptable. One voice is easily drowned out many are harder to ignore!

On behalf of the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA), I would like to thank you for your correspondence expressing concern about water quality along the coast of Nahant and Lynn. Within EEA and its agencies, there is strong recognition of the need to protect and restore coastal and marine water quality and significant efforts have and are being made to eliminate or reduce pollution sources in this and other coastal areas. EEA and its Office of Coastal Zone Management (CZM) recently worked with the Town of Nahant and the City of Lynn to designate the waters of those communities (and all of Massachusetts Bay from Provincetown to Salisbury) as “no discharge” for boat sewage. What this means is that no boats are allowed to dump sewage in those coastal waters. It is illegal under state law (http://www.malegislature.gov/Laws/SessionLaws/Acts/2008/Chapter495) for a boater to discharge sewage in coastal waters designated as a No Discharge Area. There are two pumpouts in your area where boats can have their holding tank sewage pumped out: one is at Seaport Landing in Lynn the other is the Revere harbormaster boat (which does pumpouts for boats from Revere and Nahant). In your correspondence, you noted that you would be willing to help clean up the pollution that you have witnessed. If you see or suspect that a boater is discharging sewage, you can contact the Nahant harbormaster, Robert Tibbo, at 781-581-1212 or the Lynn harbormaster, Capt. James Perry, at 781-592-6010. Regarding sewage from other sources, the Lynn Water and Sewer Commission manages a publicly owned treatment works (POTW) that treats wastewater from the communities of Lynn, Saugus, Swampscott, and Nahant. The facility is permitted to discharge on average 25 million gallons per day (mgd). The facility was designed to effectively operate at flows below 62 mgd, however, when there are storms with heavy rains, flow to the plant (consisting of sewage and stormwater from roads, roofs, and other hard surfaces) can be 60-75 mgd. The Lynn sewer system has six outfalls: two that serve to discharge treated sewage and four that discharge either storm water or sewage comingled with storm water. If you have been on the beaches in Lynn, you may have seen some of these outfall pipes. Unfortunately, during the largest rain storms, untreated sewage comingled with stormwater must be discharged to the ocean because there is not enough storage capacity in the collection system and not relieving the system would result in the Lynn POTWoverflowing or sewage backing up into residential homes and businesses. The main outfalldischarges to Lynn Harbor, almost 3 miles from shore. There is an “alternate” outfall right in front of the plant and just beyond the seawall that discharges treated wastewater when instantaneous flow
at the POTW is between 60 and 75 mgd—that is, during heavy rainfall. This typically only happens one to four times per year and the flows in the past have ranged from 2-40 mgd. Note that these flows are treated, but the Lynn POTW has had issues with the correct dosage of chlorine applied to its effluent, so occasionally (up to four times per year as recorded by the POTW’s monitoring program) there is too much chlorine, or too little chlorine (resulting in violations of the state bacteria standard). As a surfer, you may want to avoid being in the water at Lynn Harbor during and after rain storms. In areas where sewage may be discharged, we advise people to avoid contact with the water for 48 hours after a storm because the risk of illness is greatest during that period.
You will be pleased to know that the Lynn Water and Sewer Commission is under an enforcement order to: 1) separate its sewage from its stormwater pipes, 2) to reduce the amount of stormwater getting into the POTW, and 3) close the combined sewer overflows to the harbor. This work includes a $100 million project to store stormwater in tunnels underground until it can be treated appropriately. All of these actions will reduce the flow to the POTW and thus reduce the instances when poorly-treated sewage is discharged close to shore. The majority of this work was to be completed last year, but you can contact the Lynn Water and Sewer Commission at 781 596-2400 to get an update. If you would like further information, please contact Todd Callaghan at CZM at
todd.callaghan@state.ma.us or 617-626-1233.

 

Even more reason to speak up. I was up in Seabrook/Hampton this weekend and there were signs for "beach closed to the public" Its a shame the due to legal loopholes as well as poor managment/lack of oversight of certain facilities the water can become too polluted to swim in. I urge everyone to contact their state reps and anyone else concerning these issues. Send a weekly email or make a weekly call or do something to get the word out. Things will only get worse in the future unless people speak up now.