Powering Treatment with Power from the Sun Success Stories, Challenges, and Cautionary Words

Volume 8, Number 1 June 2012

The Newsletter of NEIWPCC — The New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission

By Stephen Hochbrunn, NEIWPCC

o stand amid a large, modern solar installation for the first time is to be transfixed—the Tmultiple rows of panels elegantly symmetrical as they taper away like railroad tracks, colorful hues dancing on the panels’ surface, an eerie quiet as energy from the most elemental of sources is cleanly harnessed. It is impossible not to stop, stare, say whatever you say when something takes your breath All photos by NEIWPCC except where noted away. Everyone does. In Chelmsford, Mass., Todd Melanson sees such a reaction all the time as he leads visitors around the solar array at the town’s Crooked Spring Water Treatment Plant. But if Melanson is still amazed by the sight, he did not show it during a NEIWPCC visit late last summer. He was too busy explaining how everything works and why solar is working for Chelmsford. “I talk a lot,” Melanson admitted as he looked out over the array from an embankment. “I think it’s Rows of solar panels gleam under the midday sun at the Crooked Spring Water Treatment Plant in Chelmsford, Mass. because I just happen to really like my job.” In 2006, the Chelmsford Water District chose Melanson to fill a new position for the district—en- stallation at the Chelmsford drinking water treatment Resplendent on the day of our visit, the rows of vironmental compliance manager—and in the years plant is one of the largest ground-mounted solar ar- solar panels at Crooked Spring stood as a visually since, he has led important efforts to conserve and rays in New England. Top state officials have visited striking symbol of progress on energy. It is progress protect the district’s water supply. The job allowed it, praised it. The Environmental Protection Agency that required much time, effort, and money—and him to play a central role in bringing solar power to and the Massachusetts Department of Environmental good timing too. (There is nothing quite like a Crooked Spring—and to do so in a big way. The in- Protection gave the district an award for building it. continued on page 5

Despite the somewhat temperamental nature of “Greener” Grass grasses (or graminoids, to use the technical term), Americans harbor an abiding love of lawns. Estimates Making Lawn Care Environmentally Friendly is of the total lawn area in the country differ widely, but 20 million acres (approximately the same area as Goal of New NEIWPCC Effort Maine) is a reasonably conservative estimate. While that’s less than 1 percent of U.S. land, the distribution of lawns across the landscape is intrinsically tied By Clair Ryan, NEIWPCC such an approach are many, and it all begins with the nature of the problem itself. to the distribution of people, and as such, it is far green lawn fits into our societal notion of Growing a healthy lawn is a science, a fact any from uniform. A team at the NASA Ames Research what is aesthetically pleasing, but a green lake agronomist or golf course custodian will be happy continued on page 13 A definitely does not—and the connection be- to substantiate. Like any plant, turf grass has myriad tween the two is unmistakable. What is put on lawns needs including water, sunlight, a suitable soil Inside can and often does end up in substrate, and essential water bodies, and the harm nutrients. But there’s more: Ron Poltak on the Perils of Plastic. . . . . 2 done is real and often sig- Most lawns in the Northeast NEIWPCC’s Chase Makes His Case nificant. A new undertaking contain a variety of species on Data...... 3 being led by NEIWPCC is collectively referred to as Meet Our New Commissioners...... 15 aimed at alleviating the prob- cool season grasses—Ken- lem in our member states. The Northeast Voluntary tucky blue grass, annual and perennial ryegrasses, and TR-16 Gets Much-Anticipated Update . . .15 Turf Fertilizer Initiative is a collaborative effort that red fescue are a few favorites—and each species has Book Review: The Big Thirst ...... 16 seeks to engage the six New England states, New York nuanced needs for water and light, fertilization, soil Why Workgroups Work...... 17 State, EPA, and industry and non-industry stakehold- compactness, and soil chemistry. If that isn’t enough, ers in discussing the contribution of lawn fertilizers to all cool season grasses go through cycles of growth In the Spotlight: Award Winners, polluted runoff and water quality problems—and in and dormancy based on the temperature of the soil Chuck’s Change, and One Clever Kid. . 18 voluntarily pursuing solutions. The reasons for taking and the timing of mowing. From the Executive Director One Easy Way to

Executive Director Ronald Poltak Make a Difference

Deputy Director Susan Sullivan arth Day 2012, April 22, has tic bags, they normally cite this visible come and gone—but what a day environmental impact. Fair enough, but Established by an Act of Congress in 1947, the it was. We can all take pride in there’s an energy connection too: To New England Interstate Water Pollution Control E Commission is a not-for-profit interstate agency that the fact that 42 years after the very first make plastic bags, it takes petroleum. employs a variety of strategies to meet the water- Earth Day, it remains a powerful focal Now, to be sure, oil is currently and for related needs of our member states—Connecticut, point around which people of all nation- the foreseeable future vital for our mod- Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, alities demonstrate their commitment ern way of life. It is a critical source of Rhode Island, and Vermont. NEIWPCC coordinates to the environment. It is estimated that energy, and without it, so many aspects forums and events that encourage cooperation among the states, develops resources that foster progress on more than a billion people participated of our world would grind to a halt. But water and wastewater issues, represents the region in various Earth Day 2012 activities it’s hard to argue against reducing in any in matters of federal policy, trains environmental around the globe. way possible our reliance on this non-re- professionals, initiates and oversees scientific research, So what was everyone talking about? newable resource, a point that was made educates the public, and provides overall leadership in water management and protection. Energy use reduction, for one. As a topic of discus- repeatedly at this year’s Earth Day events. sion, cutting energy use still initiates considerable So consider the following fact and pass it along: NEIWPCC is overseen by 35 Commissioners—five debate in spite of it being far from a novel concept. Making the world’s plastic bags requires the use of from each member state—who are appointed by There are many ideas shared in this regard—some about 60-100 million barrels of oil every year. To put their state governors. Each state’s delegation includes the commissioners of its environmental and health very detailed or complicated, and most politically that in perspective, just 1 million barrels of oil would agencies (or their designated representatives), with charged. Other ideas are reasonable or so it would easily satisfy the energy needs of 22,890 Americans the rest of the delegation consisting of individuals seem. for an entire year (according to the website energy- appointed to the Commission by virtue of their I want to share a simple one: Let’s all work to get watch.com). experience and interest in water and wastewater issues. An up-to-date list of NEIWPCC’s rid of plastic bags. About 100 billion plastic bags are The time has come to end such an unnecessary Commissioners is available at www.neiwpcc.org/ used every year in the United States alone. Plastic use of the world’s precious petroleum. We have commissioners.asp; please note that the number bags are used by almost everybody. We get them plenty of options other than plastic bags for carrying of NEIWPCC Commissioners from each state can everywhere, from a vendor at an outdoor farmers’ whatever needs to be carried. So let’s all do the right vary from year to year due to the gubernatorial appointment process. NEIWPCC’s staff, under the market to a high-end designer store. Nobody can thing. Set an example and take a pass on the plastic direction of Executive Director Ronald Poltak and dispute that they are convenient and easy to use. But bags. If you haven’t done so already, spend a few Deputy Director Susan Sullivan, develops and carries most of us are blissfully remiss in understanding the dollars on reusable bags and use them instead. You’ll out programs endorsed by our Commissioners. repercussions of their use and abuse. be helping to keep plastic out of the environment It is estimated that only about 5 percent of plastic and, in a small but not insignificant way, be helping bags are recycled. That means that once they are to reduce energy use. That’s not a bad return on used, most bags will enter our waste stream. Every your investment. year far too many end up littering our environment. They find their way to our streets, parks, and beaches, Sincerely, and all too often, end up in our rivers, lakes, ponds, Editor and streams. And the worst environmental effect of Stephen Hochbrunn, NEIWPCC all is that they are non-biodegradable. In order for a Graphic Design bag to decompose, 400 years must pass. None of us Timothy Jay Newcomb, Newcomb Studios will live long enough to witness their self-destruction. Ronald Poltak Interstate Water Report (IWR) is published by When people speak out against the use of plas- NEIWPCC Executive Director NEIWPCC. It is funded by a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and distributed free of charge to subscribers. To subscribe, contact NEIWPCC at the address below or fill out and return the subscription form in this issue. POSTMASTER: Breakthrough in Efforts to Form Caucus Send change of address forms to IWR/NEIWPCC, 116 John St., Lowell, MA 01852-1124. n early March, U.S. Representative Michael lenges, such as the need to provide drinking water, The opinions and information stated in IWR are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the Capuano, D-Mass., agreed to sponsor the wastewater treatment, and stormwater management opinions of NEIWPCC. Articles in IWR may be copied Northeast Natural Resources Caucus, a Con- at an affordable cost and in a manner that protects and distributed. Please give credit to NEIWPCC. I gressional caucus in Washington that will focus on public health and the environment; the need to Questions or comments about IWR articles are water, air, and waste management issues of concern reduce air pollution from sources outside the cau- welcome and appreciated. We also encourage in the New England states and New York State. The cus states that causes, among other things, mercury article submissions. Please send material to sponsorship marked a major success for NEIWPCC, contamination of the region’s waters; and the need [email protected]. which has led the effort to establish the caucus, in to provide adequate solid waste disposal capacity. All photos by NEIWPCC unless otherwise noted. partnership with our sister interstate agencies, the Efforts to obtain Washington sponsorship had Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Manage- been underway in earnest since May 2011, when the New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission ment (NESCAUM) and the Northeast Waste Man- New England Governors’ Conference Committee on 116 John Street agement Officials’ Association (NEWMOA). the Environment, which is comprised of the region’s Lowell, MA 01852-1124 By bringing together the states’ entire congressio- six state environmental agency commissioners, voted Tel: 978-323-7929 nal delegation—14 U.S. Senators and 51 (at present) unanimously to move forward with establishing the Fax: 978-323-7919 [email protected] members of the U.S. House of Representatives—the caucus. NEIWPCC is now working with Rep. Capua- www.neiwpcc.org caucus will provide the states with a much-needed no’s staff to finalize the organizational structure and strong, bipartisan voice in Congress on natural re- work out the remaining details. The next step is to de- Printed on recycled paper (50% post-consumer) sources issues. It will give the states a vital new forum termine the agenda, priorities, and schedule of caucus to regularly inform Congress of their shared chal- activities and discussions. We will keep you posted.

Interstate Water Report 2 June 2012 Show Me the Data The Need for Timeliness and Accessibility Standards for Environmental Data

By Richard Chase, NEIWPCC/MassDEP are not always clear or user-friendly. And in many On the national level, USGS continues to provide cases, the data are old and lack relevance to existing quality-controlled river stage, flow, and water quality he digital age has brought a sea of informa- or more recent conditions. To make environmental data using online data warehouses and tools that are tion to our fingertips. We have come to ex- data available online in a timely fashion, easily acces- relatively easy to use. Tpect near instant access to a myriad of topics sible when appropriate, and usable by all interested In another example, EPA uses a centralized data using sophisticated search engines and databases. In parties, there is work to be done. exchange network—STORET and the Water Quality the world of environmental data, reliance upon bulky To be certain, public access to environmental Exchange—for data sharing and access to nationwide paper reports is diminishing amid the profusion of data via the Internet is improving in many places, water quality data. However, while the network has websites containing reports, data files, and databases with significant progress being made by a number of the potential to be a significant resource for pro- with query/export and geo-referencing functionality. federal agencies, states, cities and towns, and volun- viding and obtaining surface water data for New A search of the Web can quickly turn up data on the teer monitoring groups. The Massachusetts Depart- England water bodies, many monitoring groups quality of a city’s drinking water, water flow rate at a ment of Environmental Protection (MassDEP), for likely are not sharing their data via this tool. While river, pollutant concentrations at a nearby lake, and example, is planning a comprehensive upgrade to its the design and maintenance of online databases are beach closures, for example. However, the design, information technology (IT) system to enhance data usually complex and supported by lofty goals, the overall quality, and usability of these online sources access, increase web-based civic engagement, pro- ultimate success of online data access improvements of environmental data vary widely as do the needs vide online services at the “speed of business,” and must be judged on the user-friendliness of the front of data users. The U.S. Environmental Protection promote greater transparency. Consistent with the end (what the data user sees) and on the usability of Agency, U.S. Geological Survey, state environmental state’s Open Data Initiative, this upgrade will likely the data. agencies, volunteer monitoring groups and others include improved online reporting mechanisms for By way of example, consider surface water quality have made improvements toward more streamlined enhanced environmental information exchange and continued on page 4 and efficient access to online data, but the pathways revamped data standards to ensure data integrity.

Selected Examples of Types of Surface Water Data Available Online via Environmental Agencies in New England

Data Type(s) State/Region Data Source Data vehicle(s) Web link(s)

Beach water quality (marine) Massachusetts MA Dept. of Public Health Map search tool http://mass.digitalhealthdepartment.com/public_21/ (DPH) index.cfm Drinking water Massachusetts MA Water Resources Authority Reports http://www.mwra.com/water/html/awqr.htm (MWRA) Surface water quality (305(b)) Massachusetts MassDEP-DWM Reports http://www.mass.gov/dep/water/resources/ wqassess.htm Vernal pool surveys Massachusetts MassWildlife-Dept. of Fish & Searchable database http://biomonitoring.env.state.ma.us/dfw/ Game(DFG) Rainfall and drought conditions Massachusetts MA Dept. of Conservation & Reports http://www.mass.gov/dcr/watersupply/rainfall/ Recreation (DCR) index.htm Freshwater fish tissue consumption Massachusetts MA Office of Health & Text-based search http://webapps.ehs.state.ma.us/dph_fishadvisory/ advisories and related data Human Services default.aspx Mercury in fish tissue Massachusetts MassDEP GIS and text-based search http://public.dep.state.ma.us/fish/ Streamflow (volunteer gaging) Massachusetts MA DFG-Division of Map search tool http://www.rifls.org/ Ecological Restoration, Riverways Program (in coordination w/local citizens) GIS data layers related to Connecticut CT Dept. of Energy & Downloadable files http://www.ct.gov/dep/cwp/view.asp?a=2698&q= surface water Environmental Protection 322898&depNav_GID=1707&depNav=| Beach water quality (freshwater) Connecticut CT Dept. of Energy & Report http://www.ct.gov/dep/cwp/view. Environmental Protection asp?a=2222&q=320786&depNav_GID=1654 Biomonitoring (benthos, fish Maine ME DEP Google Earth http://www.maine.gov/dep/water/monitoring/ communities, etc.) w/related links biomonitoring/data.htm Lake water quality Maine Collaboration of groups, Text-based search http://www.lakesofmaine.org/ including ME DEP Streamflow (real-time) Rhode Island RI DEM/USGS Map and text search tools http://waterdata.usgs.gov/ri/nwis/sw Cyanobacteria toxins New Hampshire NH DES Web page w/ http://www2.des.state.nh.us/Advisories/Beaches/ daily updates Lake bathymetry and fishing Vermont VT DEC Links to .pdf depth maps http://www.anr.state.vt.us/dec/waterq/lakes/htm/ information lp_depthcharts.htm Water quality modeling New England NEIWPCC/USGS Downloadable files http://nh.water.usgs.gov/projects/sparrow/data.htm Surface water quality (archived) National US EPA Text-based search http://www.epa.gov/storet/dw_home.html Continuous water quality data National USGS NWIS web interface http://waterdata.usgs.gov/ma/nwis/ current/?type=water&group_key=NONE (Rhode Island example) Continuous water quality data National USGS Query-based download http://ida.water.usgs.gov/ida/index_usgs. (archived) cfm?ncd=25 Lake water quality assessment National US EPA .csv and .txt files, reports http://water.epa.gov/type/lakes/NLA_data.cfm Integrated listings National (by State) States Searchable geospatial http://www.epa.gov/waters/data/index.html database

Interstate Water Report 3 June 2012 Show Me the Data continued from page 3 in New England’s rivers, streams, lakes, and ponds. Pawtucket Times Water quality data for these resources are collected for a variety of reasons, including to determine whether criteria are being met for designated uses such as aquatic life use, swimming, boating, and drinking water; develop and implement Total Maxi- mum Daily Loads (TMDLs) for pollutants; enforce in-stream water quality standards; examine trends over time; and evaluate improvements. Monitoring generally includes collection of physical, chemical, and biological data, based on sampling plans, Qual- ity Assurance Project Plans (QAPPs), and standard operating procedures. Typically, the data are checked against QAPP data quality objectives and accep- tance criteria to verify the data are accurate, precise, representative, complete, and documented. This data quality assessment is critical to ensure data integrity. Validated (final) data can be reported to EPA and/or disseminated to the public. Potential data users range from concerned citizens to science and engineering consultants to agency staff. A quick review of New England state environmental agency websites shows wide variation in the ability Article author Richard Chase adds dye to the Blackstone River as part of a study conducted by MassDEP and USGS. to see or download surface water quality and quantity The research provided information on pollutant time-of-travel and dispersion for selected reaches of the Blackstone. data. This is understandable given the variability of available IT resources, funding and priorities within each state agency, and the rapidly changing nature of data? Is there a preferred approach or shared vision technical research efforts to define, analyze, and computerized data access. Also, surface water quality regarding how data are accessed—that is, what type improve data quality, such as the Massachusetts information may seem less deserving of rapid access of portal or tool (geographic such as GIS or Google Institute of Technology’s Total Data Quality Man- than data from drinking water quality, air quality, and Earth, query-based, data tables, etc.) has the most agement (TDQM) Program. In seeking to define beach testing, which have obvious and direct rel- value? And what are the general expectations for data the multidimensional nature of data quality, Richard evancy to public health. But the growing dependence delivery, given the wide range of potential users? Wang of MIT has defined the following compo- on web-based information and the increasing need Because IT professionals and environmental plan- nents: believability, objectivity, reputation, accuracy, for interstate cooperation on watershed management ners, scientists, and engineers speak virtually different completeness, relevancy, value-added, ease of un- issues raises important questions: What data quality languages, IT solutions to better online access to en- derstanding, concise representation, interpretability, standards are currently guiding efforts to enhance vironmental data rely on strong communication and representational consistency, accessibility, security, online data access? Are there plans in each state to coordination between IT staff and the environmental and timeliness. eventually provide more direct and timely access to professionals generating the data. If, for example, the To maximize consistency for data products and primary objective is to provide online final monitor- data usefulness, environmental data providers must ing data within three months of collection, IT staff consider meeting appropriate timeframes for delivery Key Terms can engage their skills to enable the objective to of information to users. Yet this data quality objec- be met in the most feasible way. In some cases, use tive of timeliness is often missing in QAPP planning Quality: “an encompassing term comprising of data tables or a simple database may be the best documents. To be sure, the environmental data pro- utility, objectivity and integrity” available method. However, in addition to providing duction system (from sample collection to online dis- semination) takes time and resources to implement. U.S. Office of Management and Budget, 2002. the actual data, appropriate levels of context must be Guidelines for Ensuring the Quality, Objectivity, provided to explain what the data mean, and the data In some cases, however, the amount of time is exces- Utility and Integrity of Information Disseminated delivery system must be sustainable. sive and in extreme cases, embarrassing. For any giv- by Federal Agencies High-quality, online data access tools that pro- en project, a data timeliness standard (defined here vide streamlined steps for seeing and downloading as the usability and relevancy of data with respect to “The state of completeness, Data Quality: data require sufficient resources to plan, develop, lapsed time since collection) depends somewhat on validity, consistency, timeliness and accuracy and maintain the systems as well as to ensure adher- the monitoring objectives and intended uses of the that makes data appropriate for a specific data, such as public disclosure. But the core objective use.” ence to adopted data standards and data quality standards. To be clear on the nomenclature: Data of such time-based data standards is to stipulate the British Columbia Government Information Resource Management Glossary standards typically apply to specific data and meta- timeline for ascertaining environmental conditions. data (additional pertinent information about the Regardless of when the data are anticipated to be Data Timeliness: “The timeliness of data data) fields, database design/process/documentation needed (for example, to run a water quality simula- products reflects the length of time specifications, storage and archival mechanisms, and tion model six months in the future), the timeline for between their availability and the event or definitions and terminology. The Exchange Network collecting, analyzing, validating, processing, manag- phenomenon they describe, but considered Leadership Council is one group that coordinates the ing, and disseminating quality-assured data should in the context of the time period that development and approval of such data standards for be clearly defined and as abbreviated as possible. permits the information to be of value and environmental data collection and exchange. Data Since data analysis and reporting are generally time- still acted upon.” quality standards, on the other hand, relate to issues consuming, one way to provide more timely data is Organization for Economic Co-operation and such as accuracy, completeness, provenance, clarity, to deliver data as a stand-alone product. This could Development (OECD), 2003. Quality Framework and Guidelines for OECD Statistical Activities, relevance, optimization, timeliness, and accessibility. be done prior to and in addition to other reporting Version 2003/1 (STD/QFS(2003)1) ISO 8000, for example, is an emerging data quality mechanisms (or peer-reviewed papers) containing the standard from the International Organization for data, and could help to meet the needs of ancillary Data Accessibility: “refers to the physical Standardization. Adherence to or certification in all data users. However it is done, providing validated conditions in which users can obtain data…” or parts of ISO 8000 indicate a high level of atten- online data in a reasonable timeframe is imperative. Eurostat, 2003. “Assessment of quality in statistics” tion to data quality by the certified organization. A formally-recognized data standard relating to data working group, Item 4.2 The increasing focus on data quality has led to timeliness would be useful in consistently achieving

Interstate Water Report 4 June 2012 that goal. A basic standard might include defined timelines for data processing, validating, and upload- New England State Agency Examples of ing for each type of data; procedures and timelines “One-Stop”-Type Online Data Access for archiving older data; and clear guidelines on how State Agency Source Web link(s) the standard applies to data of different quality levels, such as preliminary or final. Massachusetts Varies https://wiki.state.ma.us/confluence/display/data/Environmental+Data Continued improvement toward user-friendly New Hampshire NH DES http://des.nh.gov/onestop/index.htm online data access is also necessary, even amid the Rhode Island RI DEM http://www.dem.ri.gov/pubs/data.htm dwindling resources at state environmental agencies. Vermont VT DEC http://www.anr.state.vt.us/dec//waterq/wqd_mgtplan/waterq_data.htm Here too, a formally-recognized standard would be useful. Criteria in a standard relating to on-line data Alternatively, data portals are being used by some standards, particularly for timeliness and accessibility, accessibility could be front-end simplicity, general states and show promise as a streamlined strategy would help keep us all better informed, engaged, and ease of use, quality-assuredness, inclusion of meta- for direct access to data. Such sites provide one-stop empowered. After all, accessing the data you need data and context, and degree of documentation. But shopping for data and help users avoid the frustra- should be one of the easier parts of the puzzle. there is no need to wait for a standard to improve action of repeatedly searching for web pages with the cess. Where sophisticated database tools are unavail- desired information. Richard Chase ([email protected]) is a able or pending, basic access to data can be provided The ability to make sound decisions regarding NEIWPCC environmental analyst. Based in Worcester, by uploading quality-assured data/metadata tables environmental protection is made possible by ready Mass., he manages the MassDEP Division of Watershed and reports via commonly-used flat-file-type formats. access to accurate, current, documented, and trans- Management’s Quality Assurance Program. As seen in Such basic access is often most useful for data users parent data. As IT architectures evolve and quality the photo on page 4, he periodically participates directly seeking data for their own analyses, as opposed to systems mature for groups generating environmen- with research generating the type of data discussed in multiple-screen, “20 questions” database queries. tal data, more widespread adoption of data quality this article.

Powering Treatment with percent a year from 1990 to 2010. The inflation is nants. It is also just four years old, meaning that from Power from the Sun expected to continue, with an acute impact in many the start Crooked Spring already incorporated many continued from page 1 of NEIWPCC’s member states, which routinely have energy efficiency measures that an older facility could some of the highest average electricity prices in the have pursued to reduce energy usage. federal stimulus program to help such projects get off country. “There wasn’t any real low hanging fruit for cut- the ground.) But tantalizing as it is, solar is not for In Chelmsford, district officials knew several ting energy costs,” Melanson said. So, in late 2007, everyone, as experts such as Steve Bolles, an energy years ago they had a problem. “Our energy costs with the blessing of his boss, Chelmsford Water consultant who runs Process Energy Services in Lon- were skyrocketing,” said Ronald Wetmore, chair District Superintendent Robert Delaney, and the donderry, N.H., pointed out. of the Chelmsford Water District’s Board of Water district’s water commissioners, Melanson began re- “There’s a lot of opportunity at facilities for Commissioners. searching options further up the energy-savings tree. equipment replacement, for optimizing existing sys- Such dramatic price escalation tends to happen tems rather than just jumping on board the renew- when you have energy inflation and a whole lot ue to the high capital investment and able bandwagon and making that huge investment,” of water to treat and move around. Chelmsford’s long payback period before savings offset Bolles said. drinking water system pulls groundwater from nearly that investment, renewable energy was If you can make solar happen, as Chelmsford has, D 20 wells and sends the water to either of two treat- long considered forbidden fruit at drinking water the rewards can be great: much less money spent on ment plants (a third is under construction) before and wastewater treatment plants. But as Melanson energy, much more of the electricity used at a facility pumping the water out to some 26,000 residents. learned, if renewable energy was the goal, Massachu- derived cleanly. But as Melanson and anyone else Crooked Spring is the larger of the two treatment setts was a good place to be. In 2007, Massachusetts who has ever gone down the solar path will say: Be facilities; it handles roughly 3 million gallons of water Governor Deval Patrick had introduced a program aware of what you are getting into. And be prepared a day, using green sand filtration to remove iron and offering rebates for solar installations at homes and for unexpected twists along the way. manganese. The plant is 4-log certified under EPA’s businesses, and in 2008, the state passed the Green Ground Water Rule, meaning the facility removes Communities Act, which set aggressive targets for or Melanson, solar was familiar territory. His 99.99 percent of possible bacteriological contami- renewable energy and provided additional incentive father was a founding member of a company Fcalled Solar Power in the 1970s, and as a boy, he spent many an afternoon at the firm, picking up the basics of solar power while sweeping the production floor. After focusing on science in high school, he served in the Army, an experience that developed fortitude (and a lingering penchant for saying “sir”). The Army helped pay Melanson’s way through college, after which he worked for years as an analytical chem- ist and microbiologist specializing in water analysis. It would have been hard to find a more ideal candidate to bring solar power to a drinking water treatment plant. As is the case in many cities and towns, finding some way to cut water-related energy costs was a priority in Chelmsford. The thirst of water and wastewater facilities for electricity is well known: According to U.S. EPA, drinking water and wastewater systems account for roughly 3-4 percent of energy use in the United States, and the plants are a big drain on local budgets, accounting for as much as 40 percent of a municipality’s total energy consumption. Making matters worse is that energy costs keep rising, despite predictions that deregulation of the energy industry in many states would lead to lower costs. Analysis in Water Environment & Technology (July 2011) shows industrial power costs in the nation climbed 3.6 Chelmsford Water District’s Todd Melanson at Crooked Spring in August 2011

Interstate Water Report 5 June 2012 programs. Massachusetts also was the first state to get EPA’s blessing to finance renewable energy activities through the Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds or SRFs, through which EPA provides monies that states use to grant low-interest loans for wastewater and drinking water infrastructure projects. According to Steve McCurdy, director of municipal services at the Massachusetts Depart- ment of Environmental Protection (MassDEP), EPA rejected using SRF dollars for renewables when the idea was first proposed in 2006. But McCurdy kept at it. “It didn’t make sense to me that we were creat- ing air pollution by burning fossil fuels to create electricity to run treatment plants,” McCurdy said in a September 2011 interview. “[EPA] said renewable energy wasn’t eligible as an SRF project, but having formerly run [Massachusetts’s] nonpoint source program, I knew any project in the state’s nonpoint source management plan could be implemented using SRF funds. So I did an end run and said part of our nonpoint source pollution management strategy was to encourage renewable energy, because the more energy that comes from renewable sources, the fewer pollutants we have being released into the at- mosphere and ultimately ending up in our lakes and ponds. EPA approved that.” EPA’s support for energy innovation extended beyond the SRF approval. By the mid-2000s, the Solar panel installation underway at Crooked Spring in the summer of 2010 agency’s New England branch, EPA Region 1, had made it a priority to reduce energy use in the water and wastewater sector. Since Massachusetts shared went to work on a design that would count toward water and wastewater facilities. the same goal, the state and EPA made ready part- his master’s degree requirements and that would give To have a shot at those monies, Melanson knew ners. In 2007, MassDEP, the Massachusetts Depart- Melanson exactly what he needed. Retelle crafted his solar project had to be included in Massachu- ment of Energy Resources (DOER), EPA Region 1, a detailed plan for Crooked Spring that called for setts’s 2009 Intended Use Plan. The Clean Water and other partners, including the University of Mas- installing 2,300 photovoltaic solar panels, which gen- Act requires all states to develop IUPs annually to sachusetts, launched the Massachusetts Energy Man- erate electricity by capturing the voltage created when identify which projects will be financed through the agement Pilot. The aim—to reduce energy use at 14 electrons in a light-sensitive material (typically silicon) SRF program, and in 2009, getting on the list meant selected water and wastewater facilities by 20 percent. are stirred up by the sun’s rays. The panels would getting a crack at the ARRA windfall. Melanson went Leaders of the pilot program held a series of round- generate 588,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity a year, to work, meeting with state lawmakers to convince table discussions that brought leading thinkers on en- enough to dramatically reduce the plant’s dependence them of his project’s benefits and delivering a presen- ergy together with the plants’ management and staff. on external power. (A kilowatt-hour, abbreviated as tation at the state capitol during a day of advocacy Crooked Spring was not among the facilities initially kWh, should be familiar if you’ve ever looked closely put on by the Massachusetts Water Works Associa- included in the program, but Melanson attended at your electric bill; it’s the standard billing unit, with tion, which represents the state’s water utilities. As the roundtables anyway. “He was very committed,” a single kWh corresponding to 1,000 watts of elec- it turned out, Melanson had underestimated the said one of the program’s leaders, Madeline Snow of tricity delivered or used in an hour.) level of preparedness demonstrated by Retelle’s plan, UMass Lowell’s Center for Sustainable Production. “It was definitely a win-win-win situation,” Snow particularly in comparison to other projects being At the roundtables, Melanson got the expert ad- said. “UMass Lowell was trying to support economic shopped around. “We were further along than most vice he needed as he worked through his options. He development, Chelmsford needed technical assis- people,” Melanson discovered. considered a form of hydroelectric power in which tance, and for Patrick Retelle, it was a great learning “Todd was well ahead of most of his colleagues microturbines are placed inside water mains; as water opportunity.” But the plan was just a start; the next at treatment plants in knowing what he was looking flows through the pipes, it spins the turbines, gen- step was getting the money. With a projected cost for,” MassDEP’s McCurdy said. “He was well down erating electricity. But Melanson rejected the idea, of well over $3 million, the project would require the line when the [ARRA] gun went off, so he had a in large part because his mains weren’t big enough Chelmsford officials to take on more debt than they good jump on everything.” to make it viable. As for wind, the problem was not were willing to assume amid the brutal economic On July 31, 2009, MassDEP released its IUP enough of it. Chelmsford’s winds average 4-6 miles conditions of the late 2000s, even if state rebates for Drinking Water SRF projects. In the section on per hour—well shy of what a standard turbine needs and incentives shaved some of the cost. Melanson green infrastructure projects came the news: Chelms- to produce usable energy. would have to find the money some other way. Soon ford’s solar photovoltaic installation was listed for Solar, however, seemed a good fit—and not just enough, an opportunity arose—and ironically, the $3.78 million, more than enough to cover the full because of Melanson’s familiarity with it. Install- battered economy was the reason. cost. Beyond that, the district wasn’t just getting ing an array remained expensive, but the cost had In February 2009, Washington passed the $787 the money in a subsidized low-interest loan like a dropped over the years while the efficiency of panels billion economic stimulus program known as the standard SRF project. MassDEP stated that due to soared. As for where to put all the panels Crooked American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. States and ARRA’s 20-percent green requirement, all the SRF Spring would need, there was plenty of land, and it towns across the nation immediately began drool- green infrastructure projects would receive principal had already been cleared—no need even to knock ing over getting a piece of the ARRA pie, but to get forgiveness in the dollar amounts listed. Techni- down trees and raise the carbon footprint of the a slice, projects had to be “shovel-ready.” Melanson cally it was still a loan, but it was a loan Chelmsford project. What was needed was a concrete plan. Enter didn’t think his solar project quite fit that descrip- wouldn’t have to pay back. a young man named Patrick Retelle. tion, given it was designed by a student and not an With funding secure, new challenges emerged— At the time that Melanson was attending the Mas- engineering firm. But a key aspect of ARRA worked along with the need to deal with them rapidly. With sachusetts roundtables, Retelle was weaving his way to his advantage. Taking a cue from Massachusetts’s Washington pushing to get stimulus funds out the through UMass Lowell’s graduate program in solar Energy Management Pilot, the Obama administra- bureaucratic door and into the economy as fast as engineering. Madeline Snow put the two men togeth- tion required that 20 percent of ARRA’s SRF monies possible, everything was compressed. Melanson, for er, spawning a mutually beneficial relationship. Retelle be dedicated to green infrastructure improvements at example, didn’t have the 6-8 months it can take to

Interstate Water Report 6 June 2012 finalize an interconnect agreement with an electric utility; interconnects are complex contracts defin- ing the relationship between an independent power producer and a utility. And with a solar project, that relationship—that connection—has to be maintained. Solar works beautifully on a sunny day, but at night and when clouds get in the way, a facility still needs to get power the old-fashioned way, especially if the

facility is treating water 24/7 as at Crooked Spring. Works and Utilities Pittsfield Dept. of Public (Solar energy can cheaply be stored in small amounts, as seen by solar-powered calculators that work as long as they periodically get a blast of sunlight, but on a large scale, storage is seldom done due to the expense.) In the end, Crooked Spring’s interconnect with National Grid came together relatively quickly, thanks in part to the collaboration of state agencies and the diligence of National Grid. The state also jumped in with another complicated process—determining who was going to do the final designing and actual construction of the ARRA/SRF solar projects. DOER bundled together 12 of the Of the 12 installations developed through the Massachusetts Solar Stimulus Program, the largest is in Pittsfield. projects, including Chelmsford’s, into the Massachu- The 1.58 MW system is spread across roughly four acres. setts Solar Stimulus (MaSS) Program for water and wastewater facilities, and sought bids from companies for designing and building all twelve. began in May 2010, and a month later, installation of wasn’t American.) “The thought was that through the bundling of the array began. Pointing to a five-foot tall structure near the all these projects, you’d get reduced cost per kilo- panels, Melanson explained it was a solar inverter, watt installed,” said Michael DiBara, who for years hen NEIWPCC first visited Crooked which takes the direct current (DC) power produced has led MassDEP’s efforts to cut energy use at water Spring to see the solar installation, it was by solar panels and converts it to the alternating and wastewater plants. “And ultimately, that’s exactly WJuly 2010 and crews were busy setting up current (AC) power used in U.S. buildings. With what happened.” panels one-by-one. Melanson explained that unlike Crooked Springs’s inverter, compliance with ARRA At a ceremony in February 2010, Governor with many large arrays, there would be no tracking was never in doubt. Not only was it American-made, Patrick announced that the winning $20 million system shifting the orientation of the panels through- the manufacturer—Solectria Renewables—makes MaSS bid came from Nexamp, a North Andover, out the day to follow the sun, since such a system its headquarters in Lawrence, Mass., and bills itself Mass.-based solar developer founded in 2006, and would be costly and, in the district’s view, consume as the leading U.S.-based provider of photovoltaic Nexamp’s project partner, Taunton, Mass.-based too much precious power. Rather, the crews were inverters. Solectria also made Crooked Spring’s Florence Electric, whose role was to actually install installing the panels at a fairly flat fixed angle of 20 combiner boxes, which take the energy from a row of the systems. That $20 million was spread over the 12 degrees, which would maximize the power gener- panels and combine it into one DC output. projects, with Crooked Spring’s cost put at $2.6 mil- ated in the summer when the sun lingers high in As he watched the crews at work, Melanson said, lion, significantly less than original projections. The the sky. The panels came from a Japanese company “They look to have us up and running in three announcement, however, didn’t end the challenges; called Kyocera, though they were assembled in San months.” The prediction wasn’t far off. On October there was permitting to be worked out, and an en- Diego—an important distinction since ARRA’s Buy 27, 2010, electricity began flowing from the solar ergy services agreement to be forged between each American provision required goods used in public array to the Crooked Spring plant, powering pumps facility and Nexamp outlining the company’s respon- works projects to be produced in the United States. and analyzers and everything else required to move, sibilities. But in short order, Melanson’s dream began (It didn’t matter if materials used in the manufactur- treat, and test drinking water. A process known as emerging as a reality. Site work at Crooked Spring ing came from elsewhere or if the parent company net metering also began, in which the plant’s electric usage reflects charges for pulling electricity from the grid when clouds or darkness prohibit solar production but also credits for solar energy delivered to the grid when the plant has more than it needs. With the array capable of steadily producing 485 kilowatts— enough to power the entire plant—savings quickly Chelmsford Water District Chelmsford Water kicked in. During our August 2011 visit to the facility, Melanson reported Crooked Spring’s energy consumption was down 43 percent, beyond what had been anticipated. “We’ve already saved more than $31,500,” he said. The solar production was also generating additional monies for the district due to one particular facet of Massachusetts’s programs for promoting the use of renewable energy. Like all of NEIWPCC’s member states except for Vermont, Massachusetts requires that utilities supplying electricity to the state’s grid meet a Renewable Portfolio Standard; an RPS is the minimum percentage of renewable power that must be in a utility’s energy portfolio, and by law in Massachusetts, that percentage must increase by 1 percent every year (for 2012, it’s at 7 percent). Utilities satisfy their RPS obligations by buying a sufficient number of renewable energy certificates or RECs (pronounced like “wrecks”), which in New An aerial view of the Crooked Spring plant shows the large footprint of the solar installation, which surrounds the England are generated through what’s known as the facility’s two lagoons for treating water discharged during backwashing. New England Power Pool Generation Information

Interstate Water Report 7 June 2012 Solar panels cover the roofs at the wastewater treatment facility in Montpelier, Vt. Peck Electric Montpelier Dept. of Public Works

System. While NEPOOL GIS creates the RECs, the points to avoid that possibility altogether. And because ings at the wastewater treatment plant in Montpelier, actual buying and selling is done on the open market, they’re mission-critical, sometimes there were other Vermont, sit a total of 264 solar panels, capable of with the price determined by supply and demand. technical issues at the sites. The hours electricians are producing a steady output of 63 kilowatts (com- And who are the sellers? Energy generators such as used to working, for example, don’t always work with pared to the 485kw at Crooked Spring). Actually, the the Chelmsford Water District, which earn one REC the hours facilities are able to be open. The way water panels are on only the south-facing portion of the for every 1,000 kWh of electricity produced from treatment plants in particular have been secured since roofs, since in the Northern Hemisphere, a solar ar- renewable sources. 9/11 means you must be very sensitive to security ray that faces south is the most efficient. That’s easily Melanson estimated in August 2011 that the issues. done with a ground-mounted system—just point the district had already earned as much as $16,000 by “But [the MaSS program] has been a wonderful panels in the right direction—but for a roof-mount, selling RECs, but as he well knew, it could have been experience for Nexamp. It kept us growing at a time you need buildings that run west to east (unless you much more. Typically, generators of solar power when other companies were going through financial have a flat roof, not the case in Montpelier). Bob earn a type of REC known appropriately as a Solar challenges.” And the program has allowed Melanson Fischer, chief operator at the Montpelier plant, said Renewable Energy Certificate. And SRECs earned by to deliver the savings the Chelmsford Water District the decision to go solar was driven in part by the Massachusetts generators sell for substantially more needed. In a phone call in early March of this year, facility already being set up for it. “The orientation of than standard RECs due to the state’s so-called RPS he said the district’s overall electricity usage was the buildings was a deciding factor,” Fischer said. Solar Carve-Out, which mandates that a specific por- down 36 percent. The solar panels were working The roof installation meant Montpelier avoided tion of a utility’s portfolio come from solar. How- their magic on the bottom line. the cost of clearing land for a ground array, and ever, not every solar generator in the state qualifies helped keep the overall price of the installation below for SRECs, and among those deemed ineligible is any ome 170 miles northwest of the Crooked $300,000. The solar system went online in June project, such as Crooked Spring, that received more Spring plant is another solar installation yield- 2010, and Fischer said it’s been running well ever than 67 percent of its funding from ARRA. “It was Sing impressive results, albeit on a smaller scale since. It’s also saving the city of Montpelier, which determined that those projects had already gotten than in Chelmsford. On the roofs of various build- owns and operates the plant, about $1,000 a month

enough of a benefit,” Mass- Montpelier Dept. of Public Works in electricity costs. Those sav- DEP’s McCurdy said. ings might be higher except But Melanson wasn’t for the relatively small size complaining. Due to ARRA, of the solar installation and Chelmsford has a solar array, the large power needs of and no debt associated with wastewater treatment equip- it. As for the 11 other ARRA- ment such as the facility’s funded solar projects in the screw pumps, which lift the MaSS program, all are now up wastewater at various stages and running, though last sum- so gravity can resume push- mer’s storms and Hurricane ing the water through the Irene in particular led to delays. treatment process. Unlike in In a November 2011 interview Chelmsford, the output of with Lori Ribeiro, Nexamp’s Montpelier’s solar panels is director of business develop- never enough to power the ment, she said the two largest entire facility. installations—at wastewater “We don’t come close,” treatment facilities in Barn- said Kurt Motyka, project en- stable and Pittsfield—were just gineer at Montpelier’s Depart- being turned on that month. ment of Public Works, “even Ribeiro also talked about the on the sunniest, best day. We challenges unique to install- can never catch up because ing solar systems at water and the plant is such a huge power wastewater plants. draw.” “The biggest challenge was The system differs from the interconnection [with the Chelmsford’s in another key electric utility],” Ribeiro said, respect—how it was financed. “because these are critical Among the energy efficiency steps taken at Montpelier was scrapping costly plans to insulate and install While monies granted facilities in a municipality. They propane heat in the building seen here, which houses the plant’s ultraviolet light disinfection system. Instead, through ARRA also were used can’t risk shutting down, so we the staff bought portable heaters to warm the space during winter maintenance visits and installed a small in Montpelier, the stimulus had to change interconnection recirculation pump to prevent icing in the UV channel used only during periods of high flow. funding in this case covered

Interstate Water Report 8 June 2012 only about half the system’s cost, meaning the city had to cover the rest. In March 2009, Montpelier voters approved a $585,000 municipal bond covering stormwater drainage improvements and the city’s share of the cost of the solar installation. The result is that Montpelier faces what Chelmsford doesn’t— a payback period. Although it will be years before accrued savings from the system total more than the amount the city (and its rate-paying citizens) are paying for it through the bond, the infusion of ARRA funds made the project make sense financially. “Payback became very attractive, less than 20 years,” Motyka said. “And the solar equipment is at least going to last 25 years, guaranteed.” The financial impact of the system shows up every month in the plant’s electric bill, which includes credits from Green Mountain Power for the energy produced by the solar panels. Instead of this net metering arrangement, Montpelier could have taken a different route and opted for what Vermont calls its Standard Offer program. While the name of the program is unique to the state, the program itself is not. In other places around the world where the approach has been successfully adopted, such as in Germany, it’s typically called a “feed-in tariff”—although Ver- mont’s choice of a different name is understandable since tariff implies a tax, which is not the case with such programs. Rather, a generator of renewable energy enters into a long-term contract in which a utility agrees to pay a fixed, above-market price for Steve Bolles, seen here at a meeting on energy projects at Massachusetts water and wastewater plants, has conducted the energy for a set length of time; in Vermont, such energy evaluations throughout the world. He and other energy experts say that, absent an unusual time-sensitive a contract for solar power can be anywhere from 10 funding opportunity like ARRA, the wise move is to make a facility as energy-efficient as possible before pursuing to 25 years in length. renewable energy. Participating in the Standard Offer program involves much paperwork and time, and unless a system will regularly generate more electricity than unnecessary once the staff connected an overlooked plant staff continue to overlook the importance of needed at a site, it’s simpler to choose net metering block heater on the generator that can warm the energy efficiency. as Montpelier did. But Standard Offer has worked engine if it needs to fire up in cold weather. Another “I think it’s very rare that people really get how effectively for Vermont as an alternative to a Renew- step—turning off a mixer motor associated with a important efficiency is,” he said. “People get kind able Portfolio Standard and the associated RECs and chemical injection no longer being conducted. The of set in their ways. They’re comfortable running SRECs. The 2009 legislation that created Standard savings from that step alone: $1,800 a year. a plant a certain way and they don’t see a solar Offer did not mandate utility participation, but “We’re addressing efficiency everywhere,” Fischer panel as changing how they operate their plant. utilities have voluntarily embraced the program as said. So [renewable energy] is something they’re more a means of helping Vermont meet its aggressive At Montpelier and other water and wastewater comfortable doing than taking advantage of actual goals for renewable energy. The program is popular facilities across the country, the availability of operational changes that they could do that wouldn’t with renewable energy generators too and for good ARRA’s green infrastructure monies unlocked the cost anything.” reason, according to Gabrielle Stebbins, executive door to renewable energy sooner than it might Turgeon didn’t fault plants that took stimulus director of Renewable Energy Vermont, a trade as- otherwise have been pried open. Under normal money to install a renewable energy system—“If sociation for the state’s renewable energy and energy circumstances, Fischer probably would have fully somebody was offering me free solar panels for my efficiency businesses. pursued ways to make his plant more energy efficient roof, I would take them too,” he said—and Turgeon “Standard Offer has been such an effective policy before proceeding with a solar installation. And that praised Chelmsford’s Melanson as being “one of mechanism because it allows developers to go to the is exactly what energy experts recommend. “The our [region’s] greatest champions” on energy issues. bank and say, ‘If you can give me the upfront capital, cheapest energy is the energy you don’t use,” UMass Energy consultant Steve Bolles of Process Energy here’s a contract that proves I have a long-term pay- Lowell’s Snow said. Services, another big believer in putting efficiency back structure in place,’” Stebbins said. On May 18, No person has done more to spread the efficiency first, also had kind words for Melanson. Bolles said Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin signed the state’s message across New England than EPA Region 1’s that in a recent energy evaluation of Crooked Spring 2012 energy bill, which significantly expanded the Jason Turgeon, who works on energy issues related that he conducted for National Grid, he discovered Standard Offer program but did not, as some environ- to municipal water and wastewater. For years, only minor needs for efficiency tweaks. “They mental advocates had hoped, establish an RPS. Ver- he’s been traveling to facilities across the region, certainly were justified in doing that large solar mont remains committed to having renewable sources observing what plants have already done to save project,” Bolles said. meet 90 percent of the state’s energy needs by 2050. energy and advising them on what more they could So the water and wastewater energy experts are In the meantime, the energy savings keep do. In a November 2011 interview, Turgeon shared not anti-solar. They’re just against doing things out mounting at the Montpelier wastewater treatment what he’s learned from his travels. of order. “You have to do efficiency first to make sure plant. Yet while the solar panels are the most obvious “I don’t think I’ve been to a wastewater facility any of that other so-called sexy stuff—solar panels, reason, they are not the only one. The retirement this year that wasn’t overaerating,” Turgeon said, wind turbines—even has a chance of paying for in late 2010 of the plant’s longtime chief operator referring to the mistake of adding more oxygen itself,” Turgeon said. and the consequent promotion of the enthusiastic, than necessary to create an aerobic environment for 49-year-old Fischer to the position unleashed the degrading organic matter in wastewater. “Typically ith ARRA now a rapidly fading memory, plant’s staff to pursue new ideas, many in the realm 40 to 60 percent of the energy in a wastewater fewer water and wastewater plants are of energy efficiency. The result has been a series of application is going to aeration. So if you’re putting Wliable to jump into renewables before energy-saving steps, such as ending the longstanding too much air in your aeration system, you’re wasting addressing efficiency. But the draining of the practice of heating the uninsulated building housing money.” stimulus dollars hasn’t completely snuffed prospects the plant’s backup generator; heating became In general, Turgeon said, municipal officials and continued on page 12

Interstate Water Report 9 June 2012 Deval Patrick

Governor AMESBURY Richard K. Sullivan Jr. SALISBURY MERRIMAC Newburyport *

Secretary of Energy and SolT ar PV

27O R kW Environmental Affairs P

WEST R Y

NEWBURY B U

W %, HAVERHILL N E

Vermont NEWBURY µ GROVELAND

k r Greater Lawrence District o Solar PV Y CLARKSBURG MONROE METHUEN 441 kW w e GEORGETOWN ROWE N WILLIAMSTOWN %, ROWLEY NORTH ADAMS HEATH LEYDEN New Hampshire BERNARDSTON LAWRENCE FLORIDA COLRAIN NORTH BOXFORD WARWICK ROYALSTON DRACUT IPSWICH NORTHFIELD ASHBY WINCHENDON PEPPERELL DUNSTABLE Lowell Regional * ANDOVER ASHBURNHAM TOWNSEND Solar PV ROCKPORT 48 kW CHARLEMONT Townsend- Harbor P.S. H Lowell Solar PV G ANDOVER U O Solar PV TOPSFIELD GILL 39 kW R LOWELL AD%,AMS O %, ESSEX ER 500 kW # B T * S FALULAH WATER FILTRATION FACILITY G HAMILTON S YN # E Adams * NEW ASHFORD %, WIND -1500 kW T C GREENFIELD GROTON U Solar PV O SHELBURNE ERVING ORANGE TEWKSBURY L 7 kW G SAVOY Charlemont Sewer District Solar PV BUCKLAND # LUNENBURG CHELMSFORD MIDDLETON * WENHAM HAWLEY 15 kW FITCHBURG ATHOL WESTFORD GARDNER Crooked Spring HESTER CHESHIRE NORTH READING MANC (CERP) SHIRLEY Solar PV BEVERLY TEMPLETON 485 kW# DANVERS MONTAGUE * AYER BILLERICA WENDELL PHILLIPSTON WESTMINSTER HANCOCK LANESBOROUGH CARLISLE WILMINGTON LITTLETON LYNNFIELD ASHFIELD READING South Essex Sewage District Clean Energy WINDSOR PLAINFIELD DEERFIELD LEOMINSTER PEABODY CHP (odor control) %, 1500 kW CONWAY SALEM HARVARD MARBLEHEAD BURLINGTON WAKEFIELD DALTON BEDFORD Pittsfield - Coltsville HUBBARDSTON LANCASTER ACTON LYNN D LEVERETT PITTSFIHEyLdDro N STONEHAM A Results Program BOXBOROUGH 62 kW L WOBURN SAUGUS CUMMINGTON SHUTESBURY *# ER PETERSHAM CONCORD D SWAMPSCOTT N NEW SALEM PRINCETON SU LEXINGTON Lynn Water & Sewer GOSHEN WHATELY STERLING HINSDALE Wind Pittsfield * PERU BOLTON SE %, MELRO LINCOLN WINCHESTER 600 kW Solar PV & AD-CHP * STOW MAYNARD MALDEN MEDFORD NAHANT 1779 kW E at ARLINGTON City of Pittsfield - (Ashley Reservoir) BARRE R CLINTON E Hydroelectric WILLIAMSBURG MWRA- Delauri P.S. V *# E %, R 225 kW WORTHINGTON MWRA - (Cosgrove) Wachusett Reservoir,Clinton Wind HATFIELD S RICHMOND Hydroelectric - 3400 kW 150O0 kW BELMONT M CHESTERFIELD WALTHAM E R MWRA - (Oakdale) Wachusett Reservoir C V RUTLAND A IL EVERETT LENOX HUDSON M L PELHAM Hydroelectric - 3500 kW SUDBURY B E CHELSEA BERLIN R WEST CAMBRIDGE ID G %, WASHINGTON # WATER PURIFICATION E *# WINTHROP * N Massachusetts AMHERST BOYLSTON W # HYDRO -24 kW * LENOX CENTER W W T P MWRA- Carroll WAYLAND TO ER WIND HADLEY HOLDEN AT MIDDLEFIELD HARDWICK BOYLSTON Solar PV WESTON W 1500 kW MARLBOROUGH MWRA - Deer Island %, OAKHAM 496 kW MWRA Hydro - 2000 kW WEST %,%, AD - CHP- Electric - 6000 kW Town of Lee Deer Island STOCKBRIDGE Hydroelectric NORTHAMPTON *# NEWTON Wind - 1200 kW NEW BOSTON *# 85 kW NORTHBOROUGH Solar PV - 181 kW BRAINTREE Water and Wastewater Facilities STOCKBRIDGE LEE HUNTINGTON WESTHAMPTON Solar PV - 180 kW B FRAMINGHAM R WELLESLEY O Solar PV - 100 kW O K L EASTHAMPTON W W T P Westboro SOUTHBOROUGH IN BECKET CHESTER *# E SOLAR PV PAXTON *# Solar PV MWRA - (Aqueduct Transfer), Southboro HULL 15 kW BELCHERTOWN # SHREWSBURY * 203 kW NEEDHAM WARE NORTH Hydroelectric NATICK WORCESTER 750 kW EASTHAMPTON Worcester %, BROOKFIELD WESTBOROUGH GRANBY MWRA Solar PV %, ALFORD WEST Chicopee Valley Aqueduct (Ware) 126 kW QUINCY %, BROOKFIELD ASHLAND Hydro - 59 kW Easthampton Wastewater Plant SPENCER Upper Blackstone * # DEDHAM TYRINGHAM * SOLAR PV LEICESTER Solar PV SHERBORN DOVER MILTON SOUTHAMPTON 15 kW Ashland -DPW SOUTH.HADLEY 337 kW D GREAT BARRINGTON HOPKINTON Solar PV O 25 kW O MONTGOMERY W OTIS GRAFTON COHASSET MONTEREY EAST ST HINGHAM SCITUATE WARREN %, HOLLISTON E BRAINTREE HOLYOKE WEYMOUTH LUDLOW BROOK- AUBURN W BLANDFORD BROOKFIELD PALMER MILLBURY EGREMONT CHICOPEE FIELD MEDFIELD UPTON Scituate NORWOOD RANDOLPH MILLIS CANTON Wind RUSSELL %, 1500 kW MILFORD %, NORWELL MEDWAY D Charles River District WALPOLE HOLBROOK AN WEST PARISH FILTERS W T P WEST KL CHARLTON SUTTON H Solar PV C HYDRO WESTFIELD O RO BRIMFIELD STURBRIDGE P SPRINGFIELD E 15 kW WILBRAHAM NORTHBRIDGE D 20 kW A SHEFFIELD L E STOUGHTON HANOVER *# ABINGTON SANDISFIELD SPRINGFIELD NORFOLK AVON MARSHFIELD MOUNT NEW MARLBOROUGH # SHARON * Hanover - Pond St. WASHINGTON SPRINGFIELD W W T P OXFORD HYDRO Wind TOLLAND MENDON 35 kW MONSON 225 kW FRANKLIN GRANVILLE *#BROCKTON %, Brockton Easton Water Division AGAWAM EAST WALES PEMBROKE PROVINCETOWN SOUTHWICK HAMPDEN FOXBOROUGH Solar PV Solar PV LONGMEADOW MAN M 50 kW 92 kW HIT UXBRIDGE A W DUDLEY WEBSTER DOUGLAS WRENTHAM HANSON LONGMEADOW H DUXBURY G # HOLLAND *

N SOUTHBRIDGE BLACKSTONE I EAST E L EASTON

Connecticut L L WEST L BRIDGEWATER I

V BE

L BRIDGEWATER L I TRURO M PLAINVILLE MANSFIELD Rhode Island HALIFAX KINGSTON

NORTH BRIDGEWATER PLYMOUTH W W T P PLYMPTON WIND ATTLEBOROUGH %, 3000 kW NORTON

WELLFLEET Clean Energy for Wastewater or Drinking Water Facilities Clean Energy Development at Massachusetts Water and Wastewater Facilities ATTLEBORO RAYNHAM TAUNTON

35,693 MIDDLEBOROUGH PLYMOUTH Installed (between 2007 - 2011) Installed (before 2007) CARVER Total (kW) EASTHAM REHOBOTH %, %, SEEKONK Wastewater (19 Sites) Wastewater (4 Sites) DIGHTON LAKEVILLE

BERKLEY Aerobic Digestion / 6,305 N. Bedford -Quittacas *# *# Solar PV Drinking Water (12 Sites) Drinking Water (5 Sites) Combined Heat 91 kW Swansea - Desalination ORLEANS & Power (CHP) (kW) Solar PV *# WAREHAM 77 kW ROCHESTER SWANSEA FREETOWN *# BREWSTER

S 10,281 R BOURNE E M SANDWICH O ACUSHNET In-Process (to be built) Other Potential Opportunities Hydroelectric (kW) S FALL RIVER MARION DENNIS *# HARWICH Totals SOMERSET W P C F Barnstable WIND -600 kW Solar PV, Wind CHATHAM %, %, NEW BARNSTABLE YARMOUTH Wastewater (5) Wastewater (7) 1019 kW BEDFORD MATTAPOISETT FALL RIVER W W T P In-Process(to be built) %, WIND -1500 kW %, FAIRHAVEN *# *# 11,693 Fairhaven Fairhaven Drinking Water (4) Drinking Water (5) Wind (kW) Solar PV - 103 kW Wind - 3000 kW 2007 - Present DARTMOUTH %,%, AD-CHP - 110 kW MASHPEE Falmouth Installed (before 2007) Wind 1 & 2 3,300 kW %,FALMOUTH Municipalities WESTPORT %, Solar (kW) 6,082 NEW BEDFORD W W T F GreenCommunities (86) WIND - 1500 kW Energy Leaders & Districts (85)

D OL SN Combined Heat GO 1,500 TISBURY DEP Regional Boundary & Power (CHP) (kW) OAK BLUFFS

Energy Leaders are the 10,000 20,000 30,000 40,000 50,000 kW Edgartown Edgartown Wastewater Plant WEST TISBURY Solar PV WIND Drinking Water or Wastwater Plants & Districts 20 kW kW EDGART%,OWN working with MassDEP, DOER, MassCEC, CHILMARK

Mass Save and EPA to reduce energy use and AQUINNAH increase renewable energy generation.

NANTUCKET Data Source MassDEP, MassDOER, MassGIS. Map Produced by MassDEP GIS Program P.Murphy, M.DiBara March 1, 2012 0 20 40 Miles g:\local\userdata\cleanenergy\ Water

Interstate Water Report 10 June 2012 Deval Patrick

Governor AMESBURY Richard K. Sullivan Jr. SALISBURY MERRIMAC Newburyport *

Secretary of Energy and SolT ar PV

27O R kW Environmental Affairs P

WEST R Y

NEWBURY B U

W %, HAVERHILL N E

Vermont NEWBURY µ GROVELAND k r Greater Lawrence District o Solar PV Y CLARKSBURG MONROE METHUEN 441 kW w e GEORGETOWN ROWE N WILLIAMSTOWN %, ROWLEY NORTH ADAMS HEATH LEYDEN New Hampshire BERNARDSTON LAWRENCE FLORIDA COLRAIN NORTH BOXFORD WARWICK ROYALSTON DRACUT IPSWICH NORTHFIELD ASHBY WINCHENDON PEPPERELL DUNSTABLE Lowell Regional * ANDOVER ASHBURNHAM TOWNSEND Solar PV ROCKPORT 48 kW CHARLEMONT Townsend- Harbor P.S. H Lowell Solar PV G ANDOVER U O Solar PV TOPSFIELD GILL 39 kW R LOWELL AD%,AMS O %, ESSEX ER 500 kW # B T * S FALULAH WATER FILTRATION FACILITY G HAMILTON S YN # E Adams * NEW ASHFORD %, WIND -1500 kW T C GREENFIELD GROTON U Solar PV O SHELBURNE ERVING ORANGE TEWKSBURY L 7 kW G SAVOY Charlemont Sewer District Solar PV BUCKLAND # LUNENBURG CHELMSFORD MIDDLETON * WENHAM HAWLEY 15 kW FITCHBURG ATHOL WESTFORD GARDNER Crooked Spring HESTER CHESHIRE NORTH READING MANC (CERP) SHIRLEY Solar PV BEVERLY TEMPLETON 485 kW# DANVERS MONTAGUE * AYER BILLERICA WENDELL PHILLIPSTON WESTMINSTER HANCOCK LANESBOROUGH CARLISLE WILMINGTON LITTLETON LYNNFIELD ASHFIELD READING South Essex Sewage District Clean Energy WINDSOR PLAINFIELD DEERFIELD LEOMINSTER PEABODY CHP (odor control) %, 1500 kW CONWAY SALEM HARVARD MARBLEHEAD BURLINGTON WAKEFIELD DALTON BEDFORD Pittsfield - Coltsville HUBBARDSTON LANCASTER ACTON LYNN D LEVERETT PITTSFIHEyLdDro N STONEHAM A Results Program BOXBOROUGH 62 kW L WOBURN SAUGUS CUMMINGTON SHUTESBURY *# ER PETERSHAM CONCORD D SWAMPSCOTT N NEW SALEM PRINCETON SU LEXINGTON Lynn Water & Sewer GOSHEN WHATELY STERLING HINSDALE Wind Pittsfield * PERU BOLTON SE %, MELRO LINCOLN WINCHESTER 600 kW Solar PV & AD-CHP * STOW MAYNARD MALDEN MEDFORD NAHANT 1779 kW E at ARLINGTON City of Pittsfield - (Ashley Reservoir) BARRE R CLINTON E Hydroelectric WILLIAMSBURG MWRA- Delauri P.S. V *# E %, R 225 kW WORTHINGTON MWRA - (Cosgrove) Wachusett Reservoir,Clinton Wind HATFIELD S RICHMOND Hydroelectric - 3400 kW 150O0 kW BELMONT M CHESTERFIELD WALTHAM E R MWRA - (Oakdale) Wachusett Reservoir C V RUTLAND A IL EVERETT LENOX HUDSON M L PELHAM Hydroelectric - 3500 kW SUDBURY B E CHELSEA BERLIN R WEST CAMBRIDGE ID G %, WASHINGTON # WATER PURIFICATION E *# WINTHROP * N Massachusetts AMHERST BOYLSTON W # HYDRO -24 kW * LENOX CENTER W W T P MWRA- Carroll WAYLAND TO ER WIND HADLEY HOLDEN AT MIDDLEFIELD HARDWICK BOYLSTON Solar PV WESTON W 1500 kW MARLBOROUGH MWRA - Deer Island %, OAKHAM 496 kW MWRA Hydro - 2000 kW WEST %,%, AD - CHP- Electric - 6000 kW Town of Lee Deer Island STOCKBRIDGE Hydroelectric NORTHAMPTON *# NEWTON Wind - 1200 kW NEW BOSTON *# 85 kW NORTHBOROUGH Solar PV - 181 kW BRAINTREE Water and Wastewater Facilities STOCKBRIDGE LEE HUNTINGTON WESTHAMPTON Solar PV - 180 kW B FRAMINGHAM R WELLESLEY O Solar PV - 100 kW O K L EASTHAMPTON W W T P Westboro SOUTHBOROUGH IN BECKET CHESTER *# E SOLAR PV PAXTON *# Solar PV MWRA - (Aqueduct Transfer), Southboro HULL 15 kW BELCHERTOWN # SHREWSBURY * 203 kW NEEDHAM WARE NORTH Hydroelectric NATICK WORCESTER 750 kW EASTHAMPTON Worcester %, BROOKFIELD WESTBOROUGH GRANBY MWRA Solar PV %, ALFORD WEST Chicopee Valley Aqueduct (Ware) 126 kW QUINCY %, BROOKFIELD ASHLAND Hydro - 59 kW Easthampton Wastewater Plant SPENCER Upper Blackstone * # DEDHAM TYRINGHAM * SOLAR PV LEICESTER Solar PV SHERBORN DOVER MILTON SOUTHAMPTON 15 kW Ashland -DPW SOUTH.HADLEY 337 kW D GREAT BARRINGTON HOPKINTON Solar PV O 25 kW O MONTGOMERY W OTIS GRAFTON COHASSET MONTEREY EAST ST HINGHAM SCITUATE WARREN %, HOLLISTON E BRAINTREE HOLYOKE WEYMOUTH LUDLOW BROOK- AUBURN W BLANDFORD BROOKFIELD PALMER MILLBURY EGREMONT CHICOPEE FIELD MEDFIELD UPTON Scituate NORWOOD RANDOLPH MILLIS CANTON Wind RUSSELL %, 1500 kW MILFORD %, NORWELL MEDWAY D Charles River District WALPOLE HOLBROOK AN WEST PARISH FILTERS W T P WEST KL CHARLTON SUTTON H Solar PV C HYDRO WESTFIELD O RO BRIMFIELD STURBRIDGE P SPRINGFIELD E 15 kW WILBRAHAM NORTHBRIDGE D 20 kW A SHEFFIELD L E STOUGHTON HANOVER *# ABINGTON SANDISFIELD SPRINGFIELD NORFOLK AVON MARSHFIELD MOUNT NEW MARLBOROUGH # SHARON * Hanover - Pond St. WASHINGTON SPRINGFIELD W W T P OXFORD HYDRO Wind TOLLAND MENDON 35 kW MONSON 225 kW FRANKLIN GRANVILLE *#BROCKTON %, Brockton Easton Water Division AGAWAM EAST WALES PEMBROKE PROVINCETOWN SOUTHWICK HAMPDEN FOXBOROUGH Solar PV Solar PV LONGMEADOW MAN M 50 kW 92 kW HIT UXBRIDGE A W DUDLEY WEBSTER DOUGLAS WRENTHAM HANSON LONGMEADOW H DUXBURY G # HOLLAND *

N SOUTHBRIDGE BLACKSTONE I EAST E L EASTON

Connecticut L L WEST L BRIDGEWATER I

V BE

L BRIDGEWATER L I TRURO M PLAINVILLE MANSFIELD Rhode Island HALIFAX KINGSTON

NORTH BRIDGEWATER PLYMOUTH W W T P PLYMPTON WIND ATTLEBOROUGH %, 3000 kW NORTON

WELLFLEET Clean Energy for Wastewater or Drinking Water Facilities Clean Energy Development at Massachusetts Water and Wastewater Facilities ATTLEBORO RAYNHAM TAUNTON

35,693 MIDDLEBOROUGH PLYMOUTH Installed (between 2007 - 2011) Installed (before 2007) CARVER Total (kW) EASTHAM REHOBOTH %, %, SEEKONK Wastewater (19 Sites) Wastewater (4 Sites) DIGHTON LAKEVILLE

D OL SN Combined Heat GO 1,500 TISBURY DEP Regional Boundary & Power (CHP) (kW) OAK BLUFFS

Mass Save and EPA to reduce energy use and AQUINNAH increase renewable energy generation.

NANTUCKET Data Source MassDEP, MassDOER, MassGIS. Map Produced by MassDEP GIS Program P.Murphy, M.DiBara March 1, 2012 0 20 40 Miles g:\local\userdata\cleanenergy\ Water

Interstate Water Report 11 June 2012 Powering Treatment with Power from the Sun continued from page 9 for new solar installations. Many government incentives remain, such as the federal Business Energy Investment Tax Credit. The ITC program provides tax credits for renewable energy installations including a healthy 30 percent tax credit on solar photovoltaic projects. Normally, a tax credit would have no bearing on a municipal water and wastewater project since municipalities are traditionally exempt from taxes. But when it’s a renewable energy project, the ITC can have an indirect benefit if the municipality enters into a power purchase agreement. In a solar PPA, a third-party contractor handles everything associated with a municipality’s solar array—design, construction, operation, and maintenance—in exchange for selling the generated electricity to the municipality at a predetermined rate, which is typically less than the municipality would otherwise pay for power. Given the contractor pays taxes, it’s eligible for tax credits, and any credit can in theory be passed on to the municipality in the form of an even lower electricity rate. In August 2011, Nexamp workers add bracing brackets to Crooked Spring’s solar panel frames to prevent them The ITC is available through 2016, but in one from bending under the weight of heavy snow accumulation. respect, it’s not quite as attractive as it once was. ARRA stipulated the credit could be taken as a cash grant if that was preferred, but the grant option is response to questions submitted by NEIWPCC. “So, the winter of 2010-2011 eventually took its toll at now off the table unless construction of a project yes, the governor’s goal is attainable with the suite of Crooked Spring. “The first couple of snowstorms, started by December 31, 2011. For solar projects, incentives that are available from the state and federal everything worked exactly like it was supposed to,” that’s a shame. “It’s better to get money in the form government. We have a robust pipeline of projects Melanson said. “The snow accumulated on the of a cash grant upfront rather than a tax credit at under development, and we continuously see new panels, the panels heated up, and the snow slid off. the end of the year,” Nexamp’s Ribeiro said. But developers that were active in other markets that now By the third or fourth storm, the snow had nowhere despite the change, PPAs will remain an attractive want to set up shop in Massachusetts.” to go. It all piled up in front.” The piles of snow alternative for cities and towns looking to outsource Across the country, the solar industry looks ultimately didn’t harm Crooked Spring’s panels, but the headaches associated with the development of healthy too, despite the smear from the demise the threat was there. During NEIWPCC’s August renewable energy. Chelmsford and Montpelier didn’t of California-based panel-maker Solyndra, which 2011 visit to the site, Nexamp workers could be seen go the PPA route, but the agreements may become defaulted on a $500 million taxpayer-funded fortifying the panel frames with brackets to prevent more prevalent now that municipalities no longer loan guarantee. A March 2012 report from the any possibility of damage from future snowstorms. have ARRA as a funding source. solar industry forecast strong growth in new U.S. Melanson explained that a drain also had to be In Massachusetts, the end of federal stimulus photovoltaic installations through 2016. The report installed at Crooked Spring to keep water from monies has not slackened the state’s hearty appetite added that costs of solar installations have been pooling around the panels during heavy rains. for renewables. In November 2011, the state’s falling dramatically, due largely to lower prices for But the occasional setbacks haven’t diminished Executive Office of Energy and Environmental components and greater efficiencies in the installation Melanson’s enthusiasm for solar—or his employer’s. Affairs launched the Clean Results Program, a process itself. Also noted in the report—an increased The Chelmsford Water District is considering adding joint initiative of MassDEP and DOER. Among preference in the country for larger systems, a second solar array at Crooked Spring, financed in the goals—to achieve, through on-site energy which could mean we’ll see more installations in part by the sale of the existing system’s RECs. When generation, zero net-energy use at 20 percent of NEIWPCC’s member states of the size at Crooked it comes to solar, it seems some people, and some the state’s drinking water and wastewater treatment Spring and fewer like Montpelier’s. If you can come cities and towns and states, want every bit they can facilities by 2020. That means each of the facilities in up with the necessary funding, bigger can be better, get. Who can blame them? the 20 percent will be using no more power than is as MassDEP’s McCurdy explained. “It doesn’t produced on-site from such means as solar, wind, and cost that much more to design a giant solar field Author’s note: The available funding and combined heat and power (CHP) systems, which use than a small field,” McCurdy said, “so distributing incentives surrounding renewable energy projects is the biogas flow created in the wastewater treatment engineering and site prep costs over a larger number a complex affair, and one that has been only touched process to generate electricity and heat. of panels drives the cost per panel down and upon here. For a comprehensive, detailed listing of It’s an ambitious goal, but as shown on the map on improves the return on investment.” state, local, utility, and federal incentives and policies pages 10-11 (provided to NEIWPCC by MassDEP), that promote renewable energy and energy efficiency, the state has made impressive gains on clean energy s the staff at Crooked Spring and Montpelier visit www.dsireusa.org, a database funded by the U.S. development at Massachusetts water and wastewater will tell you, the challenges associated with Department of Energy and managed by the North facilities, with more than 30 installations added since Asolar power don’t end with getting a system Carolina Solar Center and the Interstate Renewable 2007. Of the total kilowatts generated at the facilities, installed. Winter poses a particular problem. For one Energy Council (IREC). solar makes up roughly 17 percent, a percentage that thing, the sun isn’t in the sky that long so power To get an up-to-date tally on the Crooked Spring may very well increase over the coming years given generation is significantly curtailed. Then there’s the system’s energy generation and its environmental the state’s solar commitment. Governor Patrick’s goal matter of what occasionally falls from that sky. impact, visit www.chelmsfordwater.com and click on is to have 250 megawatts of solar power installed in “This year was better because we didn’t have a CWD Solar Production. As this article went to press, Massachusetts by 2017. Officials don’t doubt the whole lot of snow,” Montpelier’s Motyka said. “But the solar array had produced enough energy that, state’s ability to reach that number. you do have to get up on the roofs and clear the had it been generated by burning coal, would have “Just over 3 MW of solar was installed when snow off the panels, which is cumbersome. And you resulted in more than 1 million pounds of carbon Governor Patrick took office in 2007, and as of have to use a special device, because a regular snow dioxide emissions. Similar analysis of the output of the February 1, 2012, there are 114 MW of solar scraper will scratch the panels.” Montpelier plant’s solar panels can be seen at installed or in design or construction,” DOER Snow spells trouble for ground-mounted arrays https://services.wattmetrics.com/dashboard. Commissioner Mark Sylvia wrote in an email too. The battering Massachusetts experienced in aspx?siteId=148#/dashboard.

Interstate Water Report 12 June 2012 “Greener” Grass for nitrogen would already be out of date by the time continued from page 1 the sample was analyzed and the results returned to the homeowner. As a result, university extensions Center used satellite imagery to estimate and map and other experts base their fertilization recommen- the fractional proportion of land as turfgrass across dations on the nitrogen assimilation capacity of the the country. At right is the Northeast portion of type of grass being grown. Most university extensions this map. As expected, there are dense areas of lawn recommend an annual addition of 3-4 pounds of to- around the major population centers of New York tal nitrogen per 1,000 square feet of lawn. However, City and Boston, but a clustering of high density Karl Guillard, who teaches turf science at the Uni- lawn areas can also be seen around the region’s most versity of Connecticut, suggests a maximum annual significant waterways. The New Hampshire and Cristina Milesi, NASA Ames Research Center application of 2 pounds per 1,000 square feet, which Massachusetts Bays, Long Island Sound, Connecticut he says is sufficient for most lawns over 10 years of River Valley, and Hudson River Valley are all sur- age while being protective of water quality. rounded by swaths of mowed grasses. To add an additional layer of complexity—not all Perhaps more staggering than the amount of lawns nitrogen is created equal. Ammonium salts (ammo- is the money Americans are willing to spend on them. nium nitrate and ammonium sulfide) are the types of Here too it is difficult to find a single credible esti- nitrogen most commonly used in commercial fertilizers. These forms are extremely water soluble; the ni- mate, but it is fair to say that total American spending 0.0 Fractional Turf Grass Area 1.0 on lawn care each year is in the tens of billions of dol- trogen contained in the fertilizer becomes immediately In 2005, scientists at NASA’s Ames Research lars. This spending encompasses the buying of lawn- available to grass as soon as enough water is added to Center in California’s Silicon Valley produced mowers, grass seed, sod, fertilizers, soil amendments, wash the ammonium compounds into the root zone. a map showing satellite-derived estimates of and pesticides, as well as the purchase of professional But if too much water is added, the fertilizer is carried the fractional turf grass (lawn) area across lawn care services by homeowners wishing to out- deeper into the soil, beyond the root zone of turf the country. Seen here is the Northeast section. source the various weekend-consuming tasks. Experts grasses, where it can eventually pollute groundwater. Areas where a large fraction of the land surface in the water quality field, however, have long suspect- This is called nitrogen leaching, and it is a particular is lawn-covered are darkest, while locations ed that excessive fertilization of lawns carries addition- risk when fertilizing in areas with well-drained sandy where lawns cover a very small (or no) fraction al costs not reflected in sales figures. When rain falls on soils and high groundwater tables such as Cape Cod of the land surface are lightest. To see the entire lawns where nutrients have been applied in quantities and Long Island. (In such areas, homeowners must national map, go to http://earthobservatory. that exceed the plants’ ability to absorb and use them, be careful not to over-water newly fertilized lawns and nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=6019. the nutrients can run off or leach into groundwater should never apply fertilizer when moderate or heavy and eventually make their way into the nearest lake or rain is in the five-day forecast.) stream, contributing to the degradation of water qual- To reduce the likelihood of nitrogen runoff or ity and triggering expensive cleanup efforts. regional efforts like the Chesapeake Bay Program leaching, many turf experts and environmentalists and the Alliance for the Great Lakes, and the growth suggest the use of turf fertilizers containing forms of everal states around the nation have become so in legislative action. In May 2011, Vermont became nitrogen that are not immediately water soluble, also concerned with nutrient runoff from excessive the tenth U.S. state to ban the sale or use of fertilizer known as slow-release nitrogen sources. There are Slawn fertilization that they have passed laws containing phosphorus on lawns, unless the lawn is natural forms of slow-release nitrogen, usually de- restricting the quantity of one or more of the essential newly seeded or unless the homeowner can provide a rived from manure or other animal byproducts, and plant nutrients in fertilizer sold for use on turf. The recent soil test showing a phosphorus deficiency. also synthetic forms, typically urea coated in either laws most frequently target phosphorus since it is sulfur or polymer resin. With both forms, it takes usually the primary driver of eutrophication (excessive n its legislation, Vermont also addressed the several weeks for soil microbes to break down the plant growth in water) in freshwater environments nitrogen content of turf fertilizer since nitrogen nitrogen, thus reducing the chance of it being carried and because it is frequently already present in soil at Ialso plays a role in eutrophication. The nitrogen elsewhere by water. The problem with slow-release levels that will support an established lawn without dynamics involved in growing a lawn are more com- nitrogen, particularly the synthetic forms, is that it any fertilization. In 2010, the International Plant plicated than with phosphorus because nitrogen un- costs a great deal more than the commonly available Nutrition Institute (IPNI) collected and analyzed dergoes several relatively rapid chemical transforma- inorganic forms. Nonetheless, several states require some 4.4 million soil samples from across the tions as it moves through soil layers. Thus a soil test at least some slow-release nitrogen in turf fertilizers United States and Canada, and found a median soil phosphorus concentration of 25 parts per million (ppm). Cool season turf grasses should be able to thrive in soil containing 15+ ppm of phosphorus. Of course, soil is not uniform across the country, and this is reflected in the study results. IPNI reported median phosphorus levels for states from which at least 2,000 samples were collected, including four NEIWPCC member states: New York’s median was 40 ppm, Massachusetts’s 185 ppm, Maine’s 74 ppm, and Vermont’s 14 ppm. At those levels, a landowner could grow a healthy, attractive lawn without adding any phosphorus at all. Bearing those results in mind, consider the 2005 sales figures from the Scotts Miracle-Gro Company, by far the largest turf fertilizer manufacturer in the country. Scotts Miracle-Gro reported that 40 percent of the fertilizer sold in 2005 was 10-10-10, a product containing equal parts nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. How many lawns really needed all that phosphorus? Based on the IPNI study, not that many. It should be noted that in early 2011, Scotts Miracle-Gro issued a statement saying it would completely remove phosphorus from non-starter lawn Lawn care is big business, and the biggest player is Scotts Miracle-Gro Company, which reports approximately $3 fertilizers by the end of 2012. The move came amid billion in worldwide sales. Given it came from the industry leader, Scotts’s announcement that the company will the growing interest in lawn runoff from high-profile remove phosphorus from non-starter lawn fertilizers by the end of this year is especially significant.

Interstate Water Report 13 June 2012 containing nitrogen. Since January 1, 2012, in Ver- of guidance on turf fertilizer is an attractive alterna- It is suspected that the number is in the dozens and mont, all turf fertilizers have had to include at least 15 tive. This approach would be preferred by fertilizer includes companies headquartered in the Northeast percent of their total nitrogen in a slow-release form. companies that distribute regionally and don’t want to and elsewhere across the country. Also, although be burdened with distributing differently formulated the initiative is initially focusing on the supply side iven all the complexities associated with products with different labeling according to six differ- of the fertilizer market, it must be acknowledged growing a lawn and all the potential for ent state policies. A regional approach would make it that homeowners and professional applicators play Genvironmental damage, it may seem the best easier for manufacturers to provide an environmentally a significant role, and therefore, the effort will have course of action is simply to let a lawn go without sound product throughout the region, hence allowing to include some type of regional outreach to the any outside inputs. Just mow it enough to avoid fertilizer users to more easily buy products that can public seeking understanding and cooperation. dirty looks from the neighbors and let the grass “do help them achieve a healthy, lush lawn while not harm- Finally, there’s the crucial question of whether the its thing.” In their book Redesigning the American ing water bodies. Regional guidelines would allow guidelines, once finalized and implemented, can Lawn: A Search for Environmental Harmony, three environmental outreach specialists across the region to be shown to have achieved results. Some states Yale professors recommended doing precisely this, convey a unified message about turf fertilizer and the and municipalities outside New England have had and they give it a catchy name—the freedom lawn. environment. success, at least on a small scale, demonstrating The name suggests freedom from the mowing, haul- These ideas are surely what the six New England water quality improvements in response to fertilizer ing, raking, irrigating, chemical treating, and spend- state environmental agency commissioners had in ordinances. The questions of whether such an ing that typically fall in the realm of lawn care. It is, mind in the spring of 2011 when they asked approach is feasible on a larger scale and whether without doubt, an appealing notion. Unfortunately, NEIWPCC to begin working with the states, EPA EPA or the states are capable of funding such an there’s little evidence to support that it’s better for Region 1, and turf fertilizer manufacturers to come effort remain unanswered for the moment. water quality. Recall that turf has myriad needs, and up with a single set of voluntary guidelines for the It is NEIWPCC’s hope that the voluntary ap- a lawn with no outside inputs is at risk of giving way formulation and labeling of turf fertilizers intended proach will be conducive to open dialogue between to weeds or, worse still, becoming bare ground. A for sale in the region. In their capacity as members of industry and non-industry stakeholders alike. With lawn with bald patches can’t hold soil in place, leav- the New England Governors’ Conference Commit- meetings among those stakeholders now underway, ing it susceptible to erosion by wind and runoff. A tee on the Environment, the environmental agency NEIWPCC is continuing to work with water pro- study conducted at the University of Minnesota and commissioners formalized their support of this effort gram directors and technical staff from the six New reported in the Journal of Environmental Quality in in September 2011 by signing a statement of intent England states, New York State, and EPA Region 1 2009 found that turf plots given no fertilizer pro- officially establishing the Northeast Voluntary Turf to further develop the initiative. There is much work duced less dense, poorer quality turf than plots treat- Fertilizer Initiative. NEIWPCC is currently convening ahead, but also much commitment among all pared with three different fertilizer regimes, including a series of meetings with a wide variety of stakeholders, ties to make progress. Our hope is that coming to one given a phosphorus-free type. In two of the three from turf fertilizer manufacturers and retailers to wa- agreement on regional voluntary guidelines on turf years for which results were reported, the non-fertil- tershed groups and homeowner associations. The goal fertilizer will save the states time and money over a ized plots yielded a higher volume of runoff than any of the meetings is to develop mutually agreeable and piecemeal legislative approach and help us all protect of the fertilized plots, and yielded higher total annual scientifically sound regional guidelines related to the our wonderful water resources. phosphorus runoff than the phosphorus-free fertil- formulation and application of turf fertilizer. It is an- izer plots. So, doing nothing may not always be the ticipated that the effort will culminate in a “summit” Clair Ryan ([email protected]) right choice, and as with most things, the best option of sorts between the states, fertilizer manufacturers, is a NEIWPCC environmental likely lies in the middle ground, somewhere between and other stakeholders where agreements between the analyst and the coordinator of the freedom lawn and the chemically saturated one. parties will be formally adopted. NEIWPCC’s goal is our work on the Northeast Vol- to complete the initiative and develop the stakeholder untary Turf Fertilizer Initia- n an ideal world, all homeowners would take an agreements by the end of 2012. tive. To learn more about the interest in the science of lawn care, would get It is important to point out that any voluntary initiative, visit www.neiwpcc. Itheir soil tested, and would seek to improve the guidelines developed through this initiative will not org/turffertilizer.asp. Vermont’s quality of their outdoor spaces without increasing replace existing state laws related to nutrients in turf law related to the application of nutrient runoff. But that’s an ideal. Reality is another fertilizer nor will they prevent states from passing phosphorus fertilizer to non- thing. Most people have far too much else to worry new laws in the future. We are also well aware of agricultural turf is available at www.leg.state.vt.us/ about, and turf science isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. The the challenges before us. There is the question of docs/2012/Acts/ACT037.pdf. New York State’s Dish- recent state laws related to fertilizer content, there- how receptive producers of organic fertilizers will water Detergent and Nutrient Runoff Law (July 15, fore, help homeowners make environmentally safe be to participating due to the difficulty of removing 2010) is at www.dec.ny.gov/chemical/67239.html. The fertilizer choices without having to read an agronomy nutrients from naturally derived materials. Another University of Connecticut’s technical guidance, New textbook. But state laws are not the only option. For a significant challenge is simply getting all of the right England Regional Nitrogen and Phosphorus Fertilizer region like New England, where the states are rela- players involved. Although the states and NEIWPCC and Associated Management Practice Recommenda- tively small in area but dense in population, and where have begun compiling information, it is not yet tions for Lawns Based on Water Quality Consider- it is not uncommon for one person to own property known exactly how many companies distribute ations, is at http://extension.umaine.edu/waterqual- in more than one state, a region-wide policy or set fertilizer intended for use on turf in New England. ity/lid/lawns/fertrec/research-compilation/.

Of particular note this season was a new course in Spring Success which participants toured the highly regarded wastewater treatment facility in Billerica, Mass. Jeff Kalmes, the facility’s laboratory technician, led the tour and EIWPCC’s training team will soon take a explained the plant’s innovative CoMag system for well-deserved break from the road. Since removing phosphorus. The course was limited to 10 NFebruary, our trainers have been travel- students and included a hands-on lab component. ing across the region conducting courses offered in Feedback on the course evaluations was remarkably our Spring catalog. Strong attendance at the sessions positive and filled with comments such as “I enjoyed reinforced the need for the education, which NEIW- the entire program.” PCC carefully crafts to meet our states’ training needs. Our regional training program will largely be on This season, for example, NEIWPCC’s Don Kennedy hiatus for the summer as we develop a new slate of and Jeff Murray of Control Point, Inc., conducted courses for the fall; look for the course catalog on our One of NEIWPCC’s most popular courses this spring their popular course on instrumentation and SCADA website (www.neiwpcc.org) by late August. In the was a tour of the Billerica Wastewater Treatment Plant in both New Hampshire and New York. The interest meantime, NEIWPCC continues to coordinate classes led by the facility’s Jeff Kalmes, seen here at left speaking in the course reflects the growing embrace of sophisti- for the Massachusetts Title 5 (onsite wastewater) pro- with NEIWPCC’s John Murphy, who assisted with the cated technology at the region’s treatment plants. gram. See www.neiwpcc.org/training/title5.asp. class.

Interstate Water Report 14 June 2012 New Additions NEIWPCC Welcomes Three New Commissioners

he contingent of NEIWPCC Commissioners John P. Sullivan eight years at Woodard from Massachusetts has a new look. In early Jr. has worked for & Curran. He is a past TMay, Governor Deval Patrick appointed Paul the Boston Water and president of the New Hogan, John P. Sullivan Jr., and F. Adam Yanulis to Sewer Commission since England Water Works replace, respectively, Lester Sutton, James Rogers, 1978, and has served as Association, and holds a and Charles Button, whose terms on the Commission BWSC’s Chief Engineer BA from the University had expired. The new NEIWPCC Commissioners for the past 23 years. of New Hampshire. will provide support and guidance on our programs In this capacity, his and projects and will represent Massachusetts’s views responsibilities include The NEIWPCC at Commission meetings. We are thrilled to be joined implementing BWSC’s Compact of 1947 by three such highly qualified individuals. Capital Improvement calls for each of our Program and managing member states—the Paul Hogan has more than 35 years of experience the Massachusetts Water six New England states and New York State—to as a regulator and water resources expert in Mas- Resources Authority’s be represented by five NEIWPCC Commissioners. sachusetts. In his present Combined Sewer Overflow Program. He is a regis- The three new Commissioners round out the capacity as Senior Water tered Professional Engineer in Massachusetts and a Massachusetts delegation, which also includes Resources, Regulatory and certified (Grade 4) Operator of Drinking Water Sup- Kenneth Kimmell, Commissioner, Department of Compliance Specialist at ply Facilities. He holds an MBA from Northeastern Environmental Protection (represented by Bethany Woodard & Curran, he University and an MS in Emergency Management Card, Assistant Commissioner, Bureau of Resource helps clients throughout from the Massachusetts Maritime Academy. Protection) and John Auerbach, Commissioner, New England address reg- Department of Public Health (represented by Beverly ulatory issues. Previous po- F. Adam Yanulis has 26 years of experience Anderson, Bureau of Environmental Health). sitions include serving for working with public and private water utilities and The three new appointments mark an official end many years as supervisor of state and federal agencies. Since 1997, he has served to the distinguished service provided by Charles the Massachusetts Depart- as a Vice-President at CDM Smith, where he is Button, James Rogers, and Lester Sutton. They ment of Environmental responsible for sales and marketing municipal services represented Massachusetts on the Commission Protection’s Surface Water in New England. He develops long-term infrastruc- for many years and provided much leadership and Discharge NPDES Permit Program. He holds an MPA ture planning and program management for public support. We salute and thank them for their many in Public Administration and an MS in Environmental clients and helps clients develop consensus among contributions. Engineering, both from Northeastern University. elected officials. Before joining CDM Smith, he spent

In Demand New Version of Wastewater Resource Proves Popular

emand continues to be strong for the new and new concepts that needed to be incorporated, edition of NEIWPCC’s Technical Report such as asset management and climate change TR-16 GUIDES FOR THE D#16, commonly known as TR-16, which has implications. The board drafted an outline for the long been one of the Commission’s most requested revised document, then recruited volunteers from DESIGN OF publications. The new TR-16 is similar to previous the private and public sectors to create content. For WASTEWATER editions in that it covers in detail the important each of the thirteen chapters, a writing group was TREATMENT WORKS elements of wastewater treatment that must be formed, with one person taking on the key role of considered in the design of wastewater treatment group chair. Under the supervision of John Murphy, works. The content, however, has been completely NEIWPCC’s project manager, a long process of updated to reflect current practices and to include writing, reviewing, editing, and graphic design then advances in technology, nutrient removal, energy began, which ultimately resulted in the publication of efficiency, and instrumentation. the new edition in December 2011. Developing the new edition took time, The intended audience for TR-16 includes perseverance, and the contributions of many. In engineers who design wastewater treatment plants, 2009, NEIWPCC’s Executive Committee saw a need state regulators who review and approve designs, to revise the 1998 TR-16 to incorporate advances and municipalities that are soliciting professional in technology and eliminate out-of-date material. design services for wastewater treatment facilities. With guidance from the Executive Committee, The new TR-16 is available in hard copy or on CD. NEIWPCC staff formed an advisory board of For information on ordering a copy, including a Technical Report #16 experts in the training of wastewater treatment plant link for online purchasing, visit www.neiwpcc.org/ 2011 Edition operators and maintenance personnel. The advisory tr16guides.asp. Prepared by the New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission board identified changes needed in existing chapters

Interstate Water Report 15 June 2012 Book Review

An (Almost) Great Work on Water

By Stephen Hochbrunn, NEIWPCC trimmed over the past decade due led innovative efforts that to greater use of water-efficient have dramatically reduced hen Charles Fishman writes, it’s toilets. per-capita water use in Las reasonable to expect greatness. A one- If you like numbers and Vegas. In one program, Wtime reporter for The Washington Post statistics, you’ll find them inThe homeowners are paid to and longtime standout on the staff of Fast Company Big Thirst. While a reliance on replace the thirsty grass magazine, Fishman has won multiple journalism data in long-form nonfiction can in their yards with desert awards. His 2006 book The Wal-Mart Effect made be a recipe for tedium, that’s landscaping. And an extensive all the bestseller lists. So what happens when he not the case here. Fishman uses Free Press/A Division of Simoncommitment & Schuster to water reuse brings all that skill and experience to writing about research well, presenting data means almost all water that water? Frankly, many good things. Fishman’s The Big when necessary to amplify a goes down any drain in Thirst: The Secret Life and Turbulent Future of Water point and explaining numbers metropolitan Las Vegas is (Free Press, 2011) delves in impressive detail into in ways that hammer home treated and reused either at a the pressing water issues of our times. The writing is their meaning. Take the World golf course or park or sent back often incisive as he takes us across the world, tackling Health Organization statistic to Lake Mead. Despite these subjects such as water reuse that, were they handled often cited in the media that achievements, growth in the less skillfully, would turn off readers rather than keep 1.8 million children die each city’s population combined with us turning pages. Fishman gracefully weaves together year from either a lack of an unrelenting drought have information and quotations from copious sources and water or waterborne diseases. resulted in an alarming drop in interviews. But greatness? Not quite. Fishman points out that’s the water level at the reservoir, so 5,000 kids—or roughly the much so that there is real concern Part of the problem is that topical nonfiction, equivalent of ten entire U.S. elementary schools— the water level will fall below the which aims to provide up-to-date information on a lost every day for lack of clean water. In India alone, level of the city’s two intakes at Lake Mead, leaving currently hot subject, cannot stay long in gestation. contaminated water results in the deaths of 40 the pipes to suck air not water. So Mulroy has taken The pressure is on to get the work out quickly while children under five years oldevery hour. on her most ambitious project yet—building the so- it still has relevance. So in The Big Thirst we get too If that’s not a crisis, it is hard to imagine what called third straw, a 3.5 mile pipeline that will draw many redundancies, and in one case, in a very short is. Yet Fishman’s agility with figures also helps water from the bottom of Lake Mead and ensure a span: Twice on one page, Fishman tells us Australia him illustrate why concerns about the quality of water supply even if the reservoir’s level continues is roughly the same size as the United States. More tap water in the United States and most of the to drop. The project’s cost: $800 million. But as time for editing would no doubt have tightened up developed world—concerns that drive many to Fishman quotes Mulroy saying, “You can’t afford not the text. But some shortcomings can’t be blamed on bottled water—border on irrational. Yes, scientists to build it.” a deadline. More than a few times, Fishman reaches are now finding more substances such as the residues For those who work in the water and wastewater for profundity and instead sounds ridiculous. “Water of pharmaceuticals and personal care products in our industry, The Big Thirst provides a distinct pleasure— is a grown-up, quietly forceful, not self-important, water, but a major reason is because researchers have to read about familiar challenges as they are captured with both a playful twinkle and a graceful wink, as the capability to test for contaminants at incredibly by a master of the writing craft. Fishman may swing the occasion requires,” he writes. Equally painful are minute levels, even down to the level of parts per and miss with some of his sentences, but when the occasional forced similes: “The feel of water is as trillion. As Fishman explains, one part per trillion is he connects, it’s a beautiful thing. Consider the familiar as the feel of our own skin,” or “The… plan the equivalent of one second out of 31,689 years. He words early in chapter four, “Water Under Water,” fractured the town, the way high-pressure groundwa- writes that knowledge to that degree about what’s in Fishman’s firsthand account of a city’s efforts to ter fractures rock…” It is hard to imagine sentences our water creates a conundrum: restore water services amid the power outage and like these getting past one of Fishman’s old editors at flooding caused by a devastating hurricane: The Washington Post. That we couldn’t detect the “dirt” ten years ago But in a book of this length—the hard cover doesn’t mean it wasn’t there, and doesn’t mean I’m standing in the dark, at the bathroom sink runs 313 pages, not including 55 pages of notes it wasn’t damaging the environment or human in my Comfort Inn hotel room in Galveston, on sources—it’s fair to cut Fishman some slack. health. The tricky part is that the opposite is also Texas, washing my hands. Or I hope I’m washing Because, in fact, much of the material in The Big true: The fact that we can detect the substances, my hands… I’m holding a flashlight in my Thirst is strong and finely presented. The freshness their very presence in the water, doesn’t mean they mouth, and thinking about what it means to of the writing and the persona Fishman establishes are harmful, or even significant… We actually wash your hands with water that isn’t safe to as a friendly guide through complicated terrain don’t know. That is, we don’t know how clean the drink. Hurricane Ike has obliterated Galveston’s make the book effective even when he’s imparting water needs to be. ability to provide water. Two of the three main information that readers within the water industry, water-pumping stations were crippled, as was and many outside of it, will have encountered before. here Fishman really shines is when he tells the city’s main sewage treatment plant. A small This information can bear repeating because of its the tale of water today through the stories building containing the electrical controls for brute force and the specificity Fishman provides. He Wof men and women heroically pursuing the treatment plant has a sludge line on the points to a study conducted in 2000 that found the strategies to make water use smarter and more walls four feet up, right across the fuse boxes typical American flushes down the toilet 18.5 gallons sustainable. In Las Vegas, which gets nearly all its and electrical circuit boxes, indicating that for of drinkable water every day. Do the math and that water from the man-made reservoir Lake Mead, he hours the building and its vital motor and pump means nearly 6 billion gallons of clean drinking water finds his most memorable character, Patricia Mulroy. controls were awash inside with a mix of seawater flushed away in this country on a daily basis. That’s As head of the Southern Nevada Water Authority and sewage… Bringing all this back to life—the a disturbing number even if the amount has been and the Las Vegas Valley Water District, Mulroy has pumps, the sewage treatment plant, the pipes—is

Interstate Water Report 16 June 2012 turning out to require more than just money or States, the great paradox is that one of the things done The Big Thirst, after a journey that has taken the manpower or a sense of urgency. It’s requiring an right—building water systems of great reliability—has reader as far as the city of Toowoomba, Australia, exhausting level of persistence and ingenuity. led to a wrong: a lack of public awareness of what where a fierce, highly politicized debate broke it takes to keep the systems running well. Without out over the mayor’s plan to solve the city’s water Fishman chronicles the extraordinary measures awareness, support for solutions to America’s very scarcity problems by using advanced technology to taken to repair Galveston’s water system, and in real water problems is that much harder to come by. safely recycle wastewater back into Toowoomba’s doing so, captures the incredible work performed If people don’t know that leaking water mains in the parched reservoirs. It’s a long reader’s journey, but by treatment plant operators and other public works United States result in 7 billion gallons of water lost a worthwhile one. There are too many authorial staff whenever there’s a water crisis. Done outside of every day, why support the investment in new pipes lapses, too many poetic but vacuous sentences like the public eye, their work typically is unnoticed and and monitoring systems to make sure all the water gets “In the best sense, the spirit of water and our own unsung. Fishman gives them their due. to where it’s supposed to be going? spirit are the same,” to catapult the book to the To Fishman, water problems are solvable, and he level of greatness. But that should not diminish o this date, The Big Thirst has not sold nearly offers a variety of prescriptions including: Stop using Fishman’s achievement. He uses strong reporting as well as Fishman’s book on Wal-Mart, which water of drinking-water quality to flush toilets and and storytelling to open eyes to water and wastewater Tis regrettable. More Americans need to know water lawns. Require public companies to report the challenges that are all too familiar to those within the about what went on in Galveston, about what’s going water used to make their products. Reward farmers industry and all too unfamiliar to those outside of on in Las Vegas, about the vulnerability of our aging financially for growing the same amount of food it. In The Big Thirst, he makes a persuasive case for water and wastewater infrastructure. In the United with less water. These ideas come near the end of change. If only more people were reading it.

Team Efforts Workgroup Tradition Alive and Well at NEIWPCC

By Heather Radcliffe, NEIWPCC Thelma Murphy (second from right), or decades, much of the work undertaken by chief of EPA Region NEIWPCC on behalf of our states has taken 1’s Stormwater and Fplace within our workgroups—and one look Construction Permits at a conference room in our Lowell headquarters Section, makes a point on May 8 underscored the importance of this at NEIWPCC’s May 8 longstanding tradition. More than 20 people filled NPDES workshop. the room for a workshop involving members of NEIWPCC’s regional NPDES workgroup, which brings together staff from the six New England states and EPA Region 1 whose work is connected to the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System program. The NPDES program has been responsible for significant improvements to our nation’s water quality, but the issues involved with the program are complicated. A healthy exchange of information and views can only help, as was seen clearly on May 8. NEIWPCC’s John Murphy coordinated the workshop, which focused on the integration of permitting programs and the programs that enforce those and the important role workgroup members play in NEIWPCC’s Executive Committee, to communicate permits. EPA Region 1 permitting and enforcement developing meeting agendas and in bringing ideas issues to NEIWPCC staff, and to inform staff delivered presentations updating the states on and issues to the table. More than 40 new and long- development of NEIWPCC’s annual workplans. The national and regional EPA initiatives related to the time NEIWPCC workgroup members attended the webinar also explained that workgroup members integration effort. Other topics of discussion included webinar, in which Deputy Director Susan Sullivan not only engage in productive discussions, they NetDMR, a free web-based national tool for regu- announced that fiscal 2013 would see the addition also collaborate on projects such as coordinating lated Clean Water Act permittees to electronically of two new workgroups, one focusing on collection conferences and developing technical publications. submit discharge monitoring reports, and EPA’s systems, the other on wastewater certification. The Workgroups are indeed an old tradition at development of a framework for integrated munici- new groups will join a long list. In addition to the NEIWPCC. But as the webinar made clear and the pal planning. State staff also presented case studies NPDES workgroup, NEIWPCC already coordinates NPDES workshop on May 8 undeniably showed, on leading-edge efforts to control nutrients, such as workgroups in the areas of climate change, drinking they are a tradition worth keeping. the nutrient trading program in Connecticut. With water, groundwater and source water protection, so much to discuss, a follow-up meeting has been wetlands, pharmaceuticals and personal care prod- • • • planned for January 2013, with the states leading the ucts, underground storage tanks, residuals, onsite NEIWPCC is developing a special section on conversation. wastewater treatment, stormwater, TMDLs, non- our website that will further explain the function Two weeks before the May 8 workshop, a far point source pollution, water quality standards, and and importance of our workgroups and will include different session was held—but it too revealed the operator training and technical assistance. the PowerPoint presentation from the workgroup importance of workgroups. In fact, that was the As was explained during the webinar, all these webinar. Once completed, the section will be whole point. On April 23, NEIWPCC’s Tom Groves workgroups serve four roles: to help NEIWPCC accessible via the “About Us” link on our home page led a free webinar conducted by Commission staff meet our mission of serving and assisting our (www.neiwpcc.org). on the function and capabilities of our workgroups member states, to carry out tasks requested by

Interstate Water Report 17 June 2012 In the Spotlight

ongratulations to James Ehlers, executive Lee-Newman, publications and director of Lake Champlain International communications assistant, Lake and a NEIWPCC Commissioner from Ver- Champlain Basin Program, March C Robin Holland mont. In a ceremony held at Faneuil Hall in Boston 21; and Nicholas Cohen, envi- on April 25, Ehlers accepted an EPA Environmental ronmental analyst, Water Resource Merit Award presented to Lake Champlain Inter- Protection (areas of focus: climate national in honor of its impressive efforts to con- change, drinking water, ground- serve, restore, and revitalize Lake Champlain and the water/source water protection), Lake Champlain watershed. Ehlers, seen at left below May 7. during a NEIWPCC Commission meeting, has been a driving force behind LCI’s efforts, but he never fails to spread the credit. In accepting the award on behalf of LCI’s staff, volunteers, and supporters, The latest recipient of Ehlers said, “Improving our communities is a team NEIWPCC’s Above and Beyond sport requiring determination and resolve, and I am Recognition Award is Paul Spina, proud to be a small part of the collective effort.” For Dennis Suszkowski, HREP Advisory Committee certification specialist at our Lowell headquarters. more information on Lake Champlain International, chair; NEIWPCC’s Candi Sterling, RiverNet edi- The award is given out quarterly to employees or see www.mychamplain.net. tor; and Judith Enck, EPA Region 2 administrator. staff teams who have impressed others with their Learn more about the Hudson River Estuary Pro- production, work gram at www.dec.ny.gov/lands/4920.html. ethic, innovation, and commitment to NEIWPCC. Nominations are Charles Conway, a true pioneer in the waste- made by fellow staff water field, has retired from working full-time at members. Paul started NEIWPCC. Charles (or Chuck as most of us know with NEIWPCC in him) began his environmental career in 1968 doing June 2011, and has water quality surveys, moved on to EPA in 1979, and done a remarkable 28 years later joined NEIWPCC. His achievements job handling all the are many and his work legendary, particularly in the work associated with area of wastewater operator training. Thankfully, our coordination of he’s not fully retiring and will continue to conduct the Massachusetts NEIWPCC training programs, though on a contract Wastewater Operator basis. We miss seeing him on a regular basis, and we certification program already miss his stories—some of which he shared and the state’s program for Title 5 Onsite Wastewater recently in a written reflection on his amazing career. Training and Certification of Soil Evaluators and To read about Chuck’s “interesting journey,” go to System Inspectors. Thank you, Paul, for a job well www.neiwpcc.org/neiwpcc_docs/CharlesConways done and congratulations! InterestingJourney.pdf. There was a NEIWPCC connection to two other EPA Environmental Merit Award recipients this Finally, a special thanks to Elizabeth Jenkins, year—Curt Johnson and Nancy Seligson, co-chairs seen at right in the photo below with her mother, of the Long Island Sound Study Citizens Advisory NEIWPCC Certification SecretaryShelly Jenkins. Committee. For years, NEIWPCC has employed In her spare time, Elizabeth coined a slogan for staff who work directly with the Long Island Sound NEIWPCC and sketched it out. Seen below is the Study, and we are well aware of the great work being finished product, which she sent in to us with her done by Johnson and Seligson and all the members mom. Nice job, Elizabeth! Your slogan is indisputably of the LISS CAC. For more on the Long Island catchy, and you can’t beat the rhyme. If and when we Sound Study, see http://longislandsoundstudy.net. need a slogan, EPA New England annually presents Environmental we promise Merit Awards to honor outstanding environmental to consider advocates. yours. In the meantime, keep up the good Congratulations also go out to the Hudson River Since the beginning of the year, NEIWPCC work… and keep Estuary Program, which was among 26 organiza- has added a number of new employees, who we’re smiling! tions, businesses, and individuals from across New pleased to say are doing a terrific job. So, in chrono- York State that recently received EPA Environmental logical order by hiring date, here’s an officialIWR Quality Awards for their achievements in protect- welcome to Kelly Hines, environmental analyst/ ing public health and the environment. For many Long Island Sound Study habitat coordinator, hired years, NEIWPCC has maintained a close and fruitful Feb. 6; Heather Radcliffe, environmental analyst, partnership with HREP, and we’re thrilled to see the Communications (areas of focus: writing/edit- program and its amazing staff, many of whom are ing, environmental policy), Feb. 13; Erin Jacobs, NEIWPCC employees, receive this recognition. Seen environmental analyst, Water Quality (areas of focus: at the top of this page during the April 27 awards water quality standards, TMDLs, Long Island Sound ceremony in Manhattan are (left to right) Dana Study, Peconic Estuary Program), Feb. 27; Wes Redd, mayor of Camden, N.J.; Andy Bicking, Scenic Eakin, environmental analyst, Hudson River Estuary Hudson; Fran Dunwell, NYSDEC, HREP coordina- Program Fisheries Unit, Feb. 27; Dianne Raymond, tor; Venetia Lannon, NYSDEC Region 2 director; human resources assistant, March 5; Elizabeth

Interstate Water Report 18 June 2012 Main Events Two Conferences, Two Rewarding Experiences

wo conferences that always involve a great NEIWPCC deal of work by NEIWPCC are now behind Executive Director Tus—and we couldn’t be more pleased with Ron Poltak opens the results. NEIWPCC staff, and Jaclyn Harrison in the Breakfast particular, led the development of the National Tanks Plenary as the Conference and Expo, which this year was held in St. 23rd National Louis, Mo., March 19-21. The conference attracted Tanks Conference well over 600 attendees—engineers, contractors, and Expo gets consultants, and state, federal, and tribal represen- underway. tatives—and featured sessions covering numerous underground storage tank topics including operator training, remediation technologies, private tank insurance, backlog reduction strategies, and alternative The seats are filled fuels. Joining NEIWPCC in sponsoring the confer- at the 23rd Annual ence were EPA’s Office of Underground Storage Nonpoint Source Tanks, the Association of State and Territorial Solid Pollution Conference Waste Management Officials, and Missouri’s Depart- as Eric Eckl (below) ment of Natural Resources and Petroleum Storage delivers the keynote Tank Insurance Fund. address on “Water The other big event was the annual Nonpoint Words That Work.” Source Pollution Conference, which took place this year in Portsmouth, N.H., May 15-16. NEIWPCC’s Clair Ryan coordinated preparations for the conference, which attracted nearly 180 participants from state, federal, and municipal government; the private sector; academia; and watershed organizations. The attendees took part in a wide range of sessions covering topics such as structural BMPs, urban restoration challenges, prioritization and planning tools, and approaches to tackling unregulated stormwater. The New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services cosponsored the conference, with EPA Region 1 also playing a key role. We could write a lot more about these two events, but this issue of IWR has already included plenty of words. So, we hope you enjoy the photographs here, and if you’d like to see more, visit our Facebook page Tanks Conference attendees visit at www.facebook.com/neiwpcc and check out the some of the 41 Expo booths at photo albums posted for each event. Thank you to the conference site, the St. Louis all who helped to make both conferences work so Union Station Marriott Hotel. well. Without our planning teams and assistance from more people than could possibly be mentioned here, the conferences could not possibly have succeeded. New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission We are grateful for everyone’s help and look forward 116 John Street, Lowell, MA 01852-1124 to working with all of you again as we plan for the Phone: 978-323-7929 National Tanks Conference in Denver, Colo., Sep- Fax: 978-323-7919 tember 16-18, 2013, and the 2013 Nonpoint Source Email: [email protected] Pollution Conference in Vermont (specific dates and Web: www.neiwpcc.org location to be determined). ❏ Please add my name to your mailing list. If you would like to receive Interstate Water Report and iWR, our email newsletter, please fill out this form and return it to us or call 978-323-7929. Interstate Water Report and iWR are distributed free of charge. If you already are a subscriber to Interstate Water Report and wish to receive iWR, which is emailed quarterly, email us at [email protected]. Type “Subscribe” in the subject field.

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Thomas Ballestero, a NEIWPCC Commissioner, explains Company/Organization the porous asphalt at a shopping center in Greenland, N.H. Address The stop in Greenland was part of an NPS Conference field trip that also visited the University of New Hampshire City/Town State Zip Stormwater Center, where Ballestero serves as senior scien- Email tist and co-principal investigator. The tour was one of three optional field trips offered during the conference.

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NEIWPCC Joins the Social Media Community!

Follow Us on Twitter Read (and Like) Us on Facebook Since late 2011, NEIWPCC has been using Twitter on a Since early 2012, NEIWPCC has also been regularly posting news about regular basis to rapidly get out news related to our work and to our activities and developments in the water arena to our Facebook page water and wastewater issues in general. Like most organizations, (www.facebook.com/neiwpcc). Unlike with Twitter messages, there’s no we’ve found Twitter to be a very effective new tool that brings character limit on Facebook posts, so we can go into more detail while still communications to an entirely new level of immediacy. If you’re already getting the news out quickly. We’re making every effort to make the page’s content a Twitter user, we hope you’ll follow us by visiting twitter.com/neiwpcc. meaningful and engaging, so please visit our page if you haven’t already done so and we If you’re new to Twitter, the first step in getting started is to create a free hope you’ll stop by often. If you have a Facebook account, we’d appreciate it if you’d account at www.twitter.com. Once you’re signed in, type the URL listed “like” our page, which allows us to send you messages and will help spread the word above—twitter.com/neiwpcc—into your browser’s address bar, and you’ll about our page to all your other connections. If you don’t have a Facebook account, go directly to our Twitter page. Check out the archive of our tweets, and you may create one for free at www.facebook.com. You don’t need a Facebook account if you like what you see and don’t want to miss future messages, click to view our Facebook page or anybody else’s, but an account will allow you to make “follow” in the upper right. We think you’ll be glad you did! connections with other Facebook users—and we’d like to connect with you!

In This Issue: Going Solar: The Rewards, the Challenges, and the Stories of Those Who’ve Done It

NEIWPCC’s Ron Poltak on One Convenience We Should Do Without June 2012 Sponsor Emerges for Congressional Caucus on Northeast Natural Resources

Initiative Looks to Lessen the Green Lawn-Green Lake Connection

An Expert’s Thoughts on Making Environmental Data More Timely and Accessible ♦ Author Charles Fishman Aims High with The Big Thirst ♦ Two Big Events in Pictures ♦ A Proposed Slogan for NEIWPCC ♦ and much more…