One of the main initiatives of Rotary is clean water, sanitation and hygiene education. These are the basic necessities for a healthy environment and productive life. The Rotary Club of Amesbury is focusing on this initiative locally by addressing the Combined Sewage Overflows (CSO’s) into the Merrimack River.Over 800 million gallons of untreated sewage were released into the Merrimack River in 2018. Untreated sewage can cause life threatening disease including cholera, typhoid, dysentery and hepatitis A.
CSO’s occur when a sanitation district has both its sewer and sewage pipes combined. During periods of heavy rains the system gets overloaded and sewage is released to prevent back-up. Up until now, no one knew when the sewage discharges were occurring. Massachusetts law makers are working on a bill that would require sanitation districts to notify residents that has occurred within the previous four hours.
The Rotary Club of Amesbury is working to insure convenient and timely communications of these announcements through a web-based mobile App. The App would provide boaters, fisherman and others with real-time information concerning the sewage discharges.
If you would like to help Rotary with this project please contact Peter Doyle at 978-388-1370 or pwdoyle@gmail.com.
The mouth of the Merrimack River after a period of heavy rainfall.
The rain resulted in the release of untreated sewage into the river.
The rain resulted in the release of untreated sewage into the river.