Congress Members Seek Funds to Clean Up Merrimack River
(AP) — Four members of Congress from Massachusetts and New Hampshire are asking for more federal funds to help clean up the Merrimack River.
U.S. Reps. Seth Moulton and Lori Trahan of Massachusetts and Reps. Annie Kuster and Chris Pappas of New Hampshire sent a letter to colleagues leading negotiations on money for a federal grant program designed to decrease the amount of sewage released into the river.
“In 2018, 800 million gallons of sewage and untreated stormwater were released into the river, which runs more than 100 miles from central New Hampshire, through northeastern Massachusetts, and then out to sea,” the Democratic lawmakers letter says. “Combined sewer overflow discharges in Manchester and Lowell accounted for more than half of the volume.”
The Clean Water State Revolving Fund has helped make improvements to the region’s wastewater treatment plants and piping systems, they wrote, but the work needed to protect the Merrimack requires a bigger investment.
Grants to communities needing help “should be funded at the $500 million level,” the lawmakers wrote. “This would allow cities with combined sewer systems, like those along the Merrimack River, to finally make the major infrastructure changes needed to prevent CSO releases.”
Related News
From Archive
- TxDOT advances massive drainage tunnel beneath I-35 in Austin
- Glenfarne Alaska LNG targets late-2026 construction start for 807-mile pipeline project
- U.S. water reuse boom to fuel $47 billion in infrastructure spending through 2035
- $2.3 billion approved to construct 236-mile Texas-to-Gulf gas pipeline
- Major water pipe break in Puerto Rico hits over 165,000 customers
- Pennsylvania American Water launches interactive map to identify, replace lead water service lines
- Trump's tariffs drive $33 million cost increase for Cincinnati sewer project
- Utah city launches historic $70 million tunnel project using box jacking under active rail line
- Tulsa residents warned after sewer lines damaged by boring work
- Fatal trench collapse halts sewer construction in Massachusetts; two workers hospitalized
Comments