HOLYOKE — On a rainy day like Tuesday, stormwater can cause some sewer systems, like Holyoke’s, to overflow and both stormwater and untreated sewage discharge into the Connecticut River.
That’s because in parts of Holyoke’s sewer system, the same pipe is used to drain water from storms and sewage, like from flushing toilets and using the sink or shower. About 23 million gallons of water — a combination of stormwater and waste — enters the river from the outfall in the Jackson Street area of Holyoke every year, according to the Massachusetts Clean Water Trust.
“We’re trying to fix that. The way we fix it is by separating the combined systems into a separate sanitary sewer and a separate storm drain,” said Michael McManus, superintendent of the city’s Department of Public Works.
A project separating sewers in the Jackson Street area that will help address the issue recently secured an $881,000 grant from the state. Holyoke is one of two dozen cities and towns across the state, including Northampton, to receive grants for water infrastructure projects, State Treasurer Deborah Goldberg, who chairs the Massachusetts Clean Water Trust, announced last week.
The Holyoke project, which costs in total $8.9 million, will separate the sewers by constructing new sewers, drains, and sewer lining, according to information from the Massachusetts Clean Water Trust.
The city entered into agreement, called a consent decree, with the state and federal government in February 2019 saying it would “take critical remedial action to prevent future sewage discharges into the Connecticut River from the City’s sewer collection system,” the Department of Justice said in a statement that year.
Complaints filed with the consent decree “allege that from at least 2012, Holyoke discharged untreated pollutants from its sewer system in violation of its permits and both the federal Clean Water Act and the state Clean Waters Act,” the statement reads.
The Jackson Street area project is part of eliminating overflows, said McManus. “This project is the city working toward that goal,” he said.
Northampton will receive a $367,937 to help with $11 million in upgrades to the Northampton Wastewater Treatment Plant. Improvements include HVAC upgrades, new roofing for a building, and a new emergency generator.
The contractor is set to start later this month and finish by June of 2022, according to Donna LaScaleia, director of the Department of Public Works. The facility’s last major upgrades were done in 1996, and based on a report done in 2016, the plant needs “significant upgrades,” LaScaleia said in an email to the Gazette.
Greta Jochem can be reached at gjochem@gazettenet.com.