DEM ANNOUNCES THAT THREAT TO BLACKSTONE RIVER FROM LAST WEEK'S SEWAGE SPILL IN MASSACHUSETTS APPEARS TO HAVE PASSED

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News Release
RI Department of Environmental Management
235 Promenade Street, Providence, RI 02908
(401) 222-2771 TDD/(401) 222-4462

For Release:	October 10, 2003
Contact:	Gail Mastrati 222-4700 ext. 2402 Stephanie Powell 222-4700 ext. 4418

DEM ANNOUNCES THAT THREAT TO BLACKSTONE RIVER FROM LAST WEEK'S SEWAGE SPILL IN MASSACHUSETTS APPEARS TO HAVE PASSED
Public Advisory No Longer In Effect

PROVIDENCE - Based on an analysis of test results from water quality samples taken from the Blackstone River over the past week, the threat of any significant impacts to the Rhode Island portion of the river due to the October 2 sewage discharge in Massachusetts appears to have passed, according to the Department of Environmental Management.

Effective today, DEM has suspended its targeting monitoring along the river and, together with the Department of Health, lifted the advisory which had called upon people to refrain from contact recreation and avoid fish consumption along the river.

On October 2, a failure at the Upper Blackstone Water Pollution Abatement District, just south of Worcester, Massachusetts, led to the release of several million gallons of untreated and partially treated sewage into the upper Blackstone River. Subsequent monitoring by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection in the Massachusetts portion of the river, and DEM, US Filter, the Narragansett Bay Commission, and the Natural Resources Conservation Service in the Rhode Island portion of the river, revealed high fecal coliform bacteria levels down to Uxbridge, MA as of October 6, but declining levels (down to 680 fc/100 ml) at that location by October 8. Similarly, in Rhode Island, peak bacteria levels in the river (just below 2,000 fc/100 ml) occurred on October 5 and 6 in the vicinity of Woonsocket, then continued to drop, reaching background (230 - 500 fc/100 ml) by October 8.

Although the Rhode Island portion of the river did experience some impacts from the spill, particularly near the Massachusetts border in the vicinity of Woonsocket, the impacts were not major. DEM believes that the impacts were mitigated by the relatively dry weather over the past week, which contributed to slow currents in the river - about half of the normal flow for this time of year, according to USGS gauge readings. The southerly movement of the contaminated river water was therefore slower than originally predicted, and the added travel time allowed bacteria levels to decay.

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