A heavy sewage discharge after recent downpours might impact waters in Boston Harbor, city officials warned on Thursday as they issued a public health warning for the combined sewer overflow.
A combined sewer overflow occurs when a large storm overwhelms the sewage system, causing rainwater to mix with wastewater and discharge to a nearby water body. This sewer overflow helps prevent sewage backups into homes and businesses.
On Wednesday night, Massachusetts Water Resources Authority Outflow MWR203 – located in the Upper Inner Harbor, upstream of the North Washington Street Bridge — experienced a treated discharge or overflow as buckets of rain hit the region.
This overflow created “a potential public health risk,” the Boston Public Health Commission said in its warning on Thursday.
“This event may potentially affect waters in Boston Inner Harbor,” the public health officials later added.
The overflow started at 8:20 p.m. on Wednesday and ended at 10:30 p.m.
This warning will expire 48 hours after the overflow ended — 10:30 p.m. on Friday.
“The public is advised to avoid contact with affected water bodies for at least 48 hours after a sewage discharge or overflow, during rainstorms, and for 48 hours after rainstorms end, due to increased health risks from bacteria or other pollutants associated with urban stormwater runoff and discharges of untreated or partially treated wastewater,” the Boston Public Health Commission wrote in its warning.
State regulations require local public health departments to provide notice to residents when these discharges may create a risk to public health, including when a discharge lasts for more than two hours.
The Massachusetts Water Resources Authority owns combined sewer outfalls that discharge a mixture of stormwater and sewage to the Charles and Mystic rivers, Alewife Brook, and Boston Harbor.
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