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EPA orders Millbury to Comply with Sewage Discharge Laws

Release Date: 03/01/2001
Contact Information: Amy Miller, Press Office, 617-918-1042

BOSTON – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced today that it has ordered the town of Millbury to come into compliance with federal laws regulating the discharge of sewage by Nov. 30, 2003.

In an administrative order signed last month, EPA New England said that by that date the town must complete construction of the sewer pump station and main line necessary to transport their wastewater to the Upper Blackstone Water Pollution Abatement District.

Millbury is now discharging nearly a million gallons of wastewater a day that exceeds the limits of its federal permit for ammonia; nitrogen, biochemical oxygen demand, carbonaceous BOD, total suspended solids and flow.

The limits were established in a permit issued to the town in September 1999. The town of Millbury has decided to eliminate its direct discharge and instead discharge its wastewater to the Upper Blackstone Water Pollution Abatement District, thus avoiding the need to update the existing wastewater treatment facility to achieve compliance with the NPDES permit.

"This order will help ensure that wastewater with unacceptable levels of pollutants are no longer discharged into the Blackstone River," said Ira Leighton, acting regional administrator of EPA's New England office. "By channeling all wastewater into the Upper Blackstone district, the town will be able to reduce the amount of ammonia, nitrogen and other pollutants flowing into the river."