Combined Sewer Overflow Control Plan


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Combined Sewer Overflow Control Plan
Annual Progress Report 2002
March 2003

Introduction

The Massachusetts Water Resources Authority ("MWRA") files this CSO Annual Report for 2002 in accordance with the Federal District Court Order in the Boston Harbor Case. Annual and quarterly CSO reports describe the progress of work to complete MWRA’s long-term CSO control plan relative to milestones on the court-ordered schedule.

MWRA’s long-term CSO control plan was recommended in the Final CSO Facilities Plan and Environmental Impact Report (the "Facilities Plan/EIR"), which MWRA filed with federal and state regulatory agencies in August 1997. Together with certain plan modifications addressed in subsequent Notices of Project Change and Supplemental EIRs, it recommends 25 wastewater system improvement projects (see Figure 1) to bring CSO discharges at 84 outfalls in the metropolitan Boston area into compliance with the federal Clean Water Act and state Water Quality Standards.

The Facilities Plan/EIR proposed elimination of CSO discharges to sensitive use areas (i.e. beaches and shellfishing areas), significant reduction and/or treatment of discharges to less sensitive waters, and means to control floatable materials where CSO discharges will remain. Figure 2 summarizes the scope, schedule and benefits of the plan. The Facilities Plan/EIR received state and federal regulatory approvals in late 1997 and early 1998, respectively, allowing MWRA to move the projects into design and construction.

Design and construction milestones for all of the projects are included in Schedule Six of the Federal Court Order in the Boston Harbor Case. Schedule Six calls for the CSO plan to be fully implemented by November 2008, although MWRA has reported to the Court that completion of certain projects, especially projects now undergoing reassessment due to implementation obstacles, will take longer. MWRA expects to request changes to Schedule Six upon completing each reassessment and reaching agreement with the Court parties. Those projects and the circumstances necessitating more time are reviewed in this report.

This annual report for 2002 reviews planning, design and construction progress and accomplishments in 2002 and in the quarterly period December 17, 2002, to March 14, 2003. Like previous annual reports, it discusses issues that have affected or may affect MWRA’s ability to complete the CSO projects on schedule and describes efforts to address problems and move CSO control forward. In addition, this report looks back on ten years of progress in CSO control in the Boston area since work to develop the current plan began in 1992.