CRWA in the NewsGroup: River plan all wetBy Jon Brodkin, MetroWest Daily News Wednesday, August 24, 2005 A state plan to limit bacteria pollution in the Charles River watershed was criticized yesterday by environmentalists who believe it lacks sufficient data on water quality and offers no enforceable measures to make the river more suitable for swimming and boating. "This document doesn't feel like it's got any teeth to it," Anna Eleria, a project manager and engineer at the Charles River Watershed Association, said at a public hearing at the Elm Bank Reservation in Wellesley. The Department of Environmental Protection is required to complete the plan -- known as a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) and sometimes called a "pollution budget" -- under the Clean Water Act because the Charles River is impaired by bacteria from animal and human feces, which enters the water through sewer connections and stormwater runoff. The document, which is in draft form until a public comment period ends, recommends a number of steps cities and towns can take to limit bacterial pollution, like eliminating illicit sewer connections, maintaining and replacing old septic systems, requiring cleanup of pet waste and controlling runoff from construction sites. Eleria complained that the DEP's plan does not include much of the water quality data gathered by the Charles River Watershed Association and others. "It feels very generic and not specific to the Charles River watershed," Eleria said. "We all know it's one of the most extensively studied water bodies out there." A DEP official said the plan did include data specific to the Charles River, but said the agency is taking a statewide approach to the TMDL process -- meaning the plans for each of the state's 27 watersheds are largely identical. The DEP took that approach because it would take years and millions of dollars to complete extensive evaluations of each watershed, all of which are considered impaired, said the official, Steven Halterman, chief of the agency's basin planning program. The plans differ only in the data specific to each water body and in some of the recommendations, he said. But a staff attorney for the Conservation Law Foundation said the Charles River plan does not even meet the standards of the Total Maximum Daily Load process. "TMDLs require a lot of time and a lot of analysis. This isn't a TMDL," said the attorney, Carol Lee Rawn. There should be enforceable controls on stormwater discharges instead of general recommendations to fix the problem, she said. Another DEP official, basin planner Michael DiBara, said the plan could help cities and towns secure money for pollution projects from municipal coffers and through state and federal grants. Though there has been much progress in cleaning up the Charles River over the past decade, it still fails to meet swimming standards nearly 50 percent of the time, according to information provided at yesterday's hearing. About 80 percent of the river miles are considered impaired by bacteria. The Charles River plan can be found at www.mass.gov/dep/brp/wm/tmdls.htm. The state will take public comments on the draft plan until Sept. 15. (Jon Brodkin can be reached at 508-626-4424 or jbrodkin@cnc.com.)
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