Crews to Begin New Phase of Boston Harbor Cleanup

Two decades ago, the often murky waters along the beaches of Dorchester and South Boston, Mass., spurred a court battle and judge's order that the state clean up Boston Harbor. Today, after billions of dollars worth of sewer work has transformed the harbor's underground sewer tunnel system, crews are beinning work on a 2-mile sewer overflow tunnel that will virtually eliminate the release of sewage and storm water into the harbor, drastically reducing beach closings.

"The folks that have been justifiably worried about going swimming anytime near when it rains in Boston will be able to feel much safer about having their children in the water when this project is finally implemented," said Peter Shelley, vice president of the Conservation Law Foundation and one of the lawyers who sued government agencies over raw sewage discharge into the harbor in 1983. "This project is really being done for the people who use the beaches of Boston, and it's about time."

A huge boring machine arrived from Japan to Boston Harbor last week. Officials plan to gather in South Boston this morning to kick off the project, which is estimated to cost $215 million and take four years to complete.

The new two-mile tunnel will store rainwater during storm periods and send it to a new pumping station at Conley Terminal, which will push the rainwater to the Deer Island sewer treatment plant.

Under normal conditions, rain and sewage are piped to the water treatment plant in Boston, but during periods of heavy rainfall, runoff can overwhelm the sewer system, forcing polluted water into relief valves that empty into the harbor. Poststorm bacteria levels have led to an average of 21 South Boston beach closings annually.

"This is a really important project to fulfill the promise of truly clean water in Boston Harbor," said Ian Bowles, secretary of energy and environmental affairs. "It also has dramatic environmental benefits in terms of the mix of species you will find in the water."

Once the new system is up and running, engineers will open gates when heavy storms approach to direct combined sewer flow to the new North Dorchester Bay Combined Sewer Overflow Tunnel. The combined sewer flow will sit there until rains cease, and then it will be pumped out. "This will give us real-time management of a storm," said Fred Laskey, executive director of the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority.

Laskey said that the M.L. Shank Co., Providence, R.I., will serve as the lead contractor for the tunneling project. London-based engineering firm Balfour Beatty and Barletta Engineering Corp., Canton, Mass., will collaborate with the company. The work will be treacherous, Laskey said.

Bruce Berman, spokesman for the group Save the Harbor/Save the Day, said the North Dorchester tunnel is "the payoff for the Boston Harbor cleanup." He added, "We're going to have the cleanest urban beaches in America. It took a lot of patience and a lot of process to get everyone to agree that the goal wasn't a technical solution but a real one that works for the people of Boston."

Source: The Boston Globe