Hi, thanks for checking out my blog! My name is Elizabeth, but everyone calls me Liza (Lih-zuh, not Lie-zuh…although I guess pronunciation doesn’t matter since you’ll only be reading my name). I am in my final semester as a history major at UMass Dartmouth, and, due to being a transfer student who hadn’t majored in history at my previous school, am unfortunately one class shy of being able to have a minor in Women’s and Gender Studies. Outside of school, I work as a firefighter/EMT and also a high school softball coach, two jobs I truly love! In my spare time, I love to workout, go for walks or car rides with my adorable dog, read (anything and everything), and try new vegan foods and restaurants with my fiance! We are both vegetarians that for the most part eat vegan (but it’s SO HARD to say goodbye to real cheese, so it’s a slow transition to fully vegan). Neither of us are vegetarians for any health benefits; it’s all about the animals and the environment.
(taken by author: Nemasket River, major tributary of the Taunton River)
I live in the Greater Taunton Area in southeastern Massachusetts, and a local environmental issue of particular concern to me is the overflow of millions of gallons of raw sewage into the Taunton River. According to the City of Taunton’s website, the city has 1 of 19 state permits issued by the MassDEP and U.S. EPA to have a Combined Sewer Overflow location. Taunton’s is located on West Water Street, in the Weir neighborhood of Taunton. Due to the age of the city’s infrastructure, both sewage and stormwater are carried in the same drainage pipes. What this means is that during heavy rainfall or snowmelt, the system can get overloaded and discharge the sewage into the river instead of sending into the wastewater treatment plant. Now, this is crazy, but it can’t happen that often, can it? Well, that depends on how you define often. The city’s website has a posting of all of the CSO discharge events from 2020 to 2024, and there were NINE discharges in 2024. By comparison, there were two events in 2021 and one in 2023. So, to me, this begs the question of why is this occurring more frequently and what is being done to reduce it? What are the environmental impacts? Unfortunately, this is not getting much news coverage and people are not talking about it in the way I feel they should be. April of 2024 is the first time I saw a discharge notification posted on the City of Taunton’s Facebook page, and people seemed to just be laughing and joking about it, as if this is just a normal thing…which I guess, unfortunately, it is. As far as the impacts, the Taunton River Watershed Alliance (TRWA) does routine monthly sampling of the water in multiple locations of the River from April to October. The results on their website show high nitrate and enterococci bacteria levels in various locations, but one of the highest results is from the Chuckamucksett Brook on Berkley Street in Berkley, a tributary only a few miles downriver of the West Water Street CSO site. Interestingly enough, the other consistently high nitrate locations are immediately downriver of the Brockton Wastewater Treatment Plant, according to this post on the TRWA’s website. The Taunton River is 40 miles long and spans from Bridgewater to the Mount Hope Bay, the longest free-flowing river in New England. The watershed of the Taunton River and its tributaries is a 562 square miles. Pollution in the river has an impact on plants, animals, recreational activities, and the humans that live near and interact with the river. We are lucky to have groups like the TRWA to consistently monitor and advocate for the Taunton River and its watershed.
(taken by author, Nemasket River, major tributary of Taunton River)
I feel I may have gone on too long, but one last thing I want to say is about inspiration for the blog. I found inspiration looking at the Feminist Majority Foundation’s blog. I enjoyed their focus on the intersectionality of issues as well as a category of blog posts specifically devoted to climate change and environmental issues and how they impact women. I would like to take an intersectional approach to the topics I write about and consider the voices, contributions, and impacts on People of Color and Indigenous people while also recognizing my own background and how I come to these issues. One thing I would like to incorporate into my blogs that these didn’t as much was a call to action. A lot of their blog posts seemed to just be reporting on the news, not telling people what they could do to help.
Let me know what you think about the Taunton River sewage overflow! What do you think can be done about it?
Sources:
“Combined Sewer Overflow Information and Notifications.” City of Taunton, Massachusetts, Combined Sewer Overflow Information and Notifications | Taunton, MA.
Silva, Stephen. “October Monitoring Results Available, End of 2024 Sampling Year.” Taunton River Watershed Alliance, Watershed News – Taunton River Watershed Alliance.
“The Taunton River and Its Watershed.” Taunton River Watershed Alliance, The Taunton River and Its Watershed – Taunton River Watershed Alliance.