DEM renews its Blackstone River advisory

WOONSOCKET – – The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM) announced on Friday at a no-contact advisory on the Blackstone River it issued on March 1 due to partly treated wastewater being discharged by the Woonsocket Regional Wastewater Treatment Facility will continue as the plant’s operators try to correct an ongoing process failure.

DEM inspected the wastewater treatment facility (WWTF) on Friday and found that although the quality of the discharge from the plant has improved, the City of Woonsocket and its contract operator have been unable to consistently reduce solids levels in the secondary clarifiers to acceptable levels, according to Michael Healey, the DEM’s chief public affairs officer.

Until the plant’s solids levels are controlled, DEM is extending the advisory that residents refrain from both primary contact recreational water activities (such as wading and swimming) and secondary contact activities (such as canoeing, kayaking, rowing, and fishing), Healey noted.

The advisory also recommends residents avoid consuming any fish from the Blackstone and any waters that receive flow from the river, according to Healey. These include but are not limited to the Blackstone Canal and Scott Pond, from the location of the discharge, at 11 Cumberland Hill Road in Woonsocket, to the Slater Mill Dam in Pawtucket (see map). This advisory is in effect until further notice, Healey said.

The city owns the treatment facility and contracts its operations and maintenance to Jacobs, a Texas-based consulting and engineering firm, and related sludge treatment systems to Synagro Technologies Inc., which is headquartered in Baltimore.

The facility treats between six and nine million gallons of sewage from

See RIVER, page A3