Comprehensive Wastewater Management Planning and Wastewater Re-Use/Re-Charge in Massachusetts

摘要

In the last 10 years, increasingly convincing data has shown that many of the watersheds and subwatersheds in Massachusetts are becoming "stressed" -- in large part by depleted groundwater and the resulting impact on river base flow. River flows, particularly in the headwater areas, are showing higher highs in the spring and lower lows in the dry months, and an increasing number of communities are experiencing difficulty locating adequate groundwater for public water supplies. In some cases, rivers that are receiving discharges from municipal wastewater treatment facilities are more than 80% effluent in the summer, and one river that used to flow year round now runs dry most summers. This had lead DEP to re-think our prior approach to municipal wastewater management, under which we had typically encouraged extending sewers into un-sewered areas, collecting the wastewater for centralized treatment, and sending the water out of the watershed by discharging the treated effluent to a river. This presentation will provide an overview of DEP's current approach to wastewater and water resource management. This approach includes encouraging communities to conduct comprehensive long-term (20-year) wastewater management planning, and an emphasis on communities evaluating "keeping the water local" via small on-site wastewater disposal systems or centralized treatment with groundwater discharge. DEP's wastewater management approach also encourages wastewater minimization via water conservation and wastewater re-use. The presentation will cover some of the state's recent experiences implementing this approach (including successes, challenges, and public reaction), and also a look at DEP's requirements for discharge of treated effluent within the Zone II of a public water supply and guidelines on the re-use of treated wastewater (for toilet flushing, irrigation, etc.).