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Outfall
Fallout
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Since the recycling plant's completion in 1991, some
4 million tons of sewage have been diverted from the harbor
and put to good use
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By
1997, Massachusetts had come into compliance with the 25-year-old
Clean Water Act. But according to Gallagher, the harbor still
has a long way to go.
"It's not quite the PR story you'd want," he says.
"There are virtually dead 'hot spots' that are just as
bad today as they were in the 1980's."
These "hot spots," not adequately flushed out by
the tides, are places where centuries of contaminants have
accumulated on the seafloor. Studies by the U.S. Geological
Survey found that at least half of all sediment samples taken
from Boston Harbor contain toxic levels of mercury and lead.
Gallagher likens the seafloor in these areas to '"thick
black mayonnaise," and Capitellid worms still reign unchallenged
by other species in these rank regions. But the last step
in the Boston Harbor clean up might provide the light at the
end of the tunnel for even the worst of these severely degraded
areas.
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| Inside
the outfall pipe before its October 2000 completion |
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On September 6, 2000, the biggest and longest sewage tunnel
on the planet opened for business. After nine years of heated
controversy, the newly completed Outfall pipe began carrying
350 million gallons of wastewater per day out of Boston Harbor.
Gallagher characterizes the pipe as "a big plus"
for the harbor.
Within a week, tests by MWRA scientists showed that the waters
of Boston Harbor were clearer, bacteria levels were down,
and large numbers of striped bass and blue fish schooled near
Peddock's and Deer Islands.
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"It's not quite the PR story you'd want," Gallagher
says. "There are virtually dead 'hot spots' that are just
as bad today as they were in the 1980's."
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Some
environmentalists and many Cape Cod residents, however, fear
the harbor's gain will be the bay's loss. The nine and half
mile long Outfall pipe ends just 15 miles away from Stellwagon
Bank, one of Massachusetts Bay's most productive - but fragile
- ecosystems, where whales, sea birds, turtles, fish, lobster
and scallops live and feed. In the years of debate during
the tunnel's construction, teams of scientists concluded that
the highly treated wastewater would not disrupt the bank's
natural processes, but Gallagher concedes no one can say for
sure.
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| Stellwagon
Bank is an important feeding ground for world's 300 remaining
right whales |
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"It's an incredible experiment," says Gallagher.
"We don't have a good understanding of the system out
there. Every season something unusual happens."
So far, the MWRA has tested the water quality in Massachusetts
Bay three times since the Outfall pipe came on line. Researchers
found no bacteria or viruses associated with human waste.
More importantly, the wastewater is so highly diluted, changes
in water temperature and salinity dropped off almost entirely
within a few tens of meters of the pipe. These data bode well
for the life on Stellwagon Bank.
Photo:AP
Photo: permission pending; USGS
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