WASHINGTON (03/20/06) -- A landmark settlement with the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA), requiring the MWRA to implement significant improvements in Boston’s sewage collection system, has been announced by the Justice Department and the U.S. EPA. 

The agreement finalizes a long-term control plan to reduce "combined sewer overflows" (CSOs) throughout the MWRA system, and is expected to yield sharp reductions in storm overflows containing raw sewage to the Charles River. As a result of the new and ongoing efforts, Boston is expected to have among the cleanest river and beach environments of any major urban area in the nation.

Since 1988, the EPA’s New England office has taken great strides to help reduce CSO discharges into Boston Harbor and other waterways, including both the Charles River and South Boston beaches. CSOs result from heavy rainfall or snowmelt events that cause surges of wastewater to enter sewer systems that are not equipped to handle the excess amounts, resulting in sewage being directly discharged into nearby waterways. The sewage that CSOs typically carry contains not only storm water but also untreated human waste, industrial waste, toxic materials and floating debris. The settlement is expected to bring CSO discharges to the Charles River down to approximately eight million gallons per year, from a 1988 level of 1.7 billion gallons. The plan comes on the heels of an earlier agreement that will help make South Boston beaches among the cleanest in the country.