Sean Navin, an MWRA spokesperson, confirmed that the proposal had been pulled from the Nov. 19 agenda. <\/p>\n
\u201cIn order to address questions and comments that have been received from MWRA Board Members and the public, this item will not be on the agenda and the Board is not expected to vote at the November 19th Meeting,\u201d Navin said in a statement. \u201cInstead, it will be considered at a future Board Meeting after further information is gathered.\u201d<\/p>\n
Officials have worked for decades to stem the periodic release of street runoff and sewage overflows into the Charles, which can make people sick<\/a> and endanger wildlife.<\/p>\n The MWRA proposal would allow some releases into the river by changing the water quality classification of the Charles. <\/p>\n The trouble stems from an archaic system that sends both stormwater and untreated sewage through the same pipe to a wastewater treatment plant.<\/p>\n Most days, that works just fine. But during and after a moderate or heavy rain, the pipes can get overwhelmed. So to avoid having sewage back up into people\u2019s homes, the combined sewage and storm water is piped to outfalls such as rivers, streams and other waterways<\/a> when necessary.<\/p>\n The federal Environmental Protection Agency and advocates have pointed to the issues in the Charles for years. In 1995, the EPA launched an initiative<\/a> to have a fishable and swimmable Charles by 2005. It\u2019s been a long road, paved with lawsuits between the federal regulators and the MWRA, ongoing river monitoring by advocacy organizations, and millions of dollars invested to remedy the problem.<\/p>\n Yet some two decades past that target date, such halcyon days on the water are still the exception and often require special permits, depending on the area along the river. <\/p>\n To fix the problem, the MWRA has been separating the system, building one set of pipes for the stuff that gets flushed down the toilet or sent down the sink, and another for stormwater.<\/p>\n In recent decades, the MWRA has spent over $900 million to eliminate nearly 90 percent of combined sewer overflows in its service area. But there are still outfalls remaining, including several in the lower Charles River and in the Alewife Brook\/Upper Mystic River Basin. <\/p>\n Last month, Navin noted that overall, the agency\u2019s proposal would still reduce pollution flowing into the river.<\/p>\n \u201cThe draft plan as presented reflects a responsible approach that balances potential environmental benefits with rate impacts to all MWRA customer communities,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The reclassification by the MWRA would change the status for the Charles to \u201cclass B (CSO),\u201d which would explicitly allow for releases of sewage overflows. The river\u2019s current \u201cclass B\u201d designation allows for a special variance for short-term releases.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople have gotten engaged next to the Charles. People paint next to the Charles. People grieve their lost loved ones next to the Charles. So we know viscerally how much people care about this river,\u201d said Emily Norton, executive director of the watershed group, last month. \u201cWhen they hear that there is still sewage being dumped in it, like it\u2019s the 1700s and we don\u2019t understand modern sanitary management, they\u2019re shocked.\u201d<\/p>\n In a report<\/a> to its board last month, the MWRA presented other options, including separating the sewer lines, using nature-based solutions that directs stormwater into the ground instead of through overflow pipes, and increasing the size of pumps and pipes.<\/p>\n