Recently, Kevin Hart and his 10 year-old daughter, Kelsie, were visiting the area and took a morning walk down to the Merrimack River. On the course of their walk, they discovered a sewage odor and followed their noses to the source, a pipe discharging dirty water, toilet paper and all of the other items we typically flush down the toilet. The pipe was emptying into a drainage ditch not far from the river. Kevin, an angler who enjoys fishing in the Merrimack, was concerned about pollution from this pipe entering the river and negatively impacting the health of the river and its aquatic residents. Rather than assuming that someone else would notice and report the problem, Kevin contacted us.
Once we learned about the problem, MRWC staff and a volunteer went out to the site to check out the problem and confirmed that this was a sanitary sewer overflow. Finding the site was simple, as it was easy to smell the foul odor from some distance away. We collected a water sample, conducted a couple of on-site tests, and promptly contacted town authorities, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. All three organizations have promised to follow-up on the problem, and MRWC will check back in a few weeks to make sure that the overflow has been corrected and the sewage is again being directed to the local waste water treatment plant.
MRWC extends its thanks to Kevin and Kelsie for their diligence as concerned citizens and contribution to the health of the Merrimack! BRAVO!
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