Grant backs EPA's water 'trading' 

by Patrick Golden 
February 14, 2003

WALTHAM - With the Charles River in danger of running dry and filling with pollutants, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has selected a local river protection group for a pilot program that could lead to a healthier river and reduced water cleaning costs for polluters.

EPA officials announced yesterday a $106,000 grant to the Charles River Watershed Association, at the organization's new Woerd Avenue office. The money will be used to lay the groundwork for a water quality "trading" program the EPA introduced last month.

The CRWA hopes replenishing the sources that feed the Charles River will increase the river's dwindling water volume and decrease the need for costly water decontamination programs.

The CRWA, which helps protect the Charles' 308-square-mile watershed, is one of 10 groups nationwide the EPA chose to pilot the Water Quality Trading Policy (WQTP). Advocates of the program call it a major step toward making water cleaner for less money, and offers more flexibility to organizations that channel wastewater back into natural water sources.

"Cleaning up the nation's water has become increasingly more complicated over the last 30 years," said William Walsh-Rogalski, who is overseeing cleanup of the Charles for the EPA.

The WQTP is designed to further the Clear Water Act the federal government implemented 30 years and $150 billion ago. While many of nation's waterways are dramatically cleaner than during the early 1970s, the cost of keeping water clean has skyrocketed. The nation will spend $48 billion this year on water cleaning efforts, said David Batchelor, EPA policy adviser responsible for implementing the water trading program.

In 1994, the Clinton administration estimated trading would achieve an annual cost savings between $658 million and $7 billion.

"This project is the outgrowth of years of work," said Robert Zimmerman, executive director of the CRWA.

The WQTP allows the trading of credits between pollutants. For example, a waste-water treatment facility that has discharged fewer pollutants, such as weed-feeding phosphates, into the water than its permit allows could build up credits for remaining below allowable discharge levels. Those credits could then be sold to a wastewater treatment facility that is in danger of exceeding its permitted discharge level.

The trading of credits must occur between organizations in the same watershed and cannot result in a decrease in overall water quality.

Details of how the credit-trading program will be governed have yet to determined, but it could be overseen at the state and federal level.

Environmental protection officials on hand yesterday said the Charles River is a good candidate for the program.

"The Charles River has become a poster child for improving water not only in Massachusetts, but around the country," said Arleen O'Donnell, deputy commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection.

But the 80-milelong, meandering Charles is far from being clear of harm's way. The EPA gave the river a "B" grade in 2002, and wants to achieve an "A" by 2005.

The CRWA plans to help facilitate bettering the river's water quality by increasing its water volume, a process that could decrease the need for decontaminating waste water discharged into the river.

Zimmerman said the recharging of water to the river has been severely compromised by development. Rainwater that once soaked into ground and drained back into the river has been blocked by buildings and asphalt surfaces. Instead of seeping into the ground, the waters in collected by stormwater drains and channeled through sewers to wastewater treatment plants.

"We're doing a very good job of cutting off rainwater," said Zimmerman.

Water that seeps underground tends to collect into bodies of water called aquifers. The aquifers, in turn, replenish rivers and other water sources. But with water blocked from permeating the ground, there's nothing to replenish the aquifers. Eighty percent of river water comes from underground sources, said Zimmerman. He added some area rivers have begun to run dry during arid summer months, including the Ipswich River where dirt-bikers have taken to riding on its parched bed.

To help combat the diverted water dilemma, the CRWA has developed SmartStorm Rainwater Recovery System, an underground water storage system that collects water runoff from rooftops and leaks it back into the ground. The CRWA has assembled a working model of the SmartStorm system at it Woerd Avenue office.

The system could help CWRA achieve its goal of increasing the river's water level.

Zimmerman said the SmartStorm system can make a significant contribution to replenishing underground water levels because the average home dumps between 50,000 and 60,000 gallons of rainwater off its roof each year. The SmartStorm system collects the water in two 400-gallon plastic drums. A homeowner can use the water for washing a car, watering plants and other outdoor uses. The remaining water is channeled to a drainage component that releases the water into the ground.

The town of Bellingham has warmed to SmartStorm, encouraging residents to install the systems. Zimmerman said the installation of each unit costs $3,000. He hopes subsidies could be made available to make the the units more affordable.

The CRWA envisions SmartStorm as a possible tool in the water quality trading program. The group has already put its grant money to use, establishing 20 water quality test sites throughout the 308-square-mile watershed. Determining the water quality will help CRWA understand whether conditions improve through the use of SmartStorm or other methods.

"We need to be able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that things are getting better," said Zimmerman.