Environmental lawsuit against Marion dropped: rewind

Jul 23, 2019

To the Editor: 

As a resident of Marion I feel the Sippican Week story “Environmental Lawsuit Against Marion Dropped” requires a response so that Marion residents understand the facts:

1. The claim that the Marion Waste Water Treatment Plant (WWTP) lagoons are leaching untreated sewage into Marion’s Waterways is false. The Buzzards Bay Coalition has claimed that Nitrogen from the lagoons is leaching into Marion’s waterways, but that claim has not been proven.

2. Marion holds a renewable National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit jointly issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) that allows treated effluent to be discharged from the WWTP. The 2014 draft renewal included a requirement to stop using the unlined lagoons for storage of wastewater or wastewater solids. It was issued as final in 2017.

3. Marion appealed the conditions of the final NPDES Permit based on technical considerations, not financial. That appeal process has taken years of technical analysis and negotiation, not recent intervention, reaching a conclusion with an Administrative Order of Consent (AOC), which outlined a process for complying with the NPDES Permit. The AOC called for lining lagoon 1 and the development of an Optimization Plan to maximize the use of lagoon 1 and minimize the use of lagoons 2 and 3. The Optimization Plan was completed in August 2018.

4. Subsequently Marion has signed an Administrative Consent Order (ACO) with MassDEP that calls for the lining of lagoon 1, converting lagoon 2 to a dry lagoon and maintaining it in that condition whenever possible, and disconnecting lagoon 3 and operating it as a pond. A high-flow management plan will be developed to establish procedures and expectations for lagoon use.

The necessary WWTP modifications are extensive and costly. Marion Selectmen worked with Representative Strauss and Senator Pacheco to identify $2 million in supplemental funding from the State Environmental Bond Bill to support the WWTP renovation.

Norman Hills
Resident