In the words of the federal Justice Department:

“The Justice Department, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts have entered into a consent decree with the City of Holyoke, Massachusetts, to resolve the Clean Water Act and Massachusetts state law. The proposed consent decree calls for Holyoke to take further remedial action to reduce ongoing sewage discharges into the Connecticut River from the city’s sewer collection and stormwater systems.”

Everytime a sustained rain pours in the city, the water goes into the street drains and then flows with untreated  sewage into the Connecticut River. This results in damage to the river, the flora and fauna and impedes people from enjoying the river whether form its banks, for swimming  or on boats.

The federal government has fined Holyoke for not fixing this longstanding problem — a problem shared by many cities worldwide including famously in Paris, where the 2024 Summer Olympics were held. Its Sienne River had to be cleaned of raw sewage before Olympian contenders could swim on it.

Holyoke is moving forward on fixing the sewage system.

The first step was the creation of an ad hoc committee that includes City Councilor Michael Sullivan, himself an experienced contractor; and Brian Beauguard, formerly of Holyoke Gas & Electric; and Mary Monahan

Last month, the Board of Public Works voted in favor of the city seeking  proposals from companies that can manage the city’s  wastewater treatment services.

In a press release issued this month by the city,  it in part states: “The existing 20-year contract expires September 29, 2025. The City has never switched contractors since its initial contract with Aquarion Water Co. Aquarion was succeeded by United Water Resources, which was succeeded by Suez Water Inc., which was acquired by Veolia.

“… We’ll be looking proposals through a ‘green’ lens, both in terms of energy generation and the waste stream,” said Mayor Joshua García. “Wastewater management is a huge responsibility that I, as Mayor, take very seriously. We have to be certain that our systems are state of the art.”

“Holyoke’s annual wastewater service fee for Fiscal 2024 is an estimated $7.3 million. The final billing is affected by sewer breaks and other factors that could add to the final bill.”

The Finance Committee this week addressed the ad hoc committee’s request for $250,000 to seek authorative assistance from engineers and lawyers on how to construct a Request for Proposals.

“It’s going to be quite a bit different than the last 20 years,” said Councilor Sullivan. “We’re trying to address issues such as stormwater separation, climate change, and all the other things that are affecting the city and also ways now to make our new wastewater treatment facility an economic driver for the city. There’s a lot of new technology out there that’s a little more complicated than what we’ve done for not only the last 20 years, but for the last hundred years.

“And it can be of great benefit to the city, if done properly, some of the, some of the ideas and possibilities out there are building an anaerobic digester as part of our treatment. This produces green electricity is one of the things it could do and also, could market fertilizer.

“We could produce methane, oxygen, nitrogen, various other products now. So it actually becomes a revenue and job producer for the city. There’s other possibilities for incorporating it with the waste products from other towns and collecting a tipping fee, so to speak, which would help to keep our own rate down for the residents of Holyoke.  This is a very complicated, contract, RFP with a lot of moving parts. and we will definitely, absolutely need these legal outside help in the, outside engineering. “

The Finance Committee agenda can be viewed here.

The documents the councilors received for the meeting can be viewed here.

In other news from city government, the Ordinace Committee met this week.

City Councilor Howard Greaney Jr. proposed that the tax work-off program for seniors be increased from 30 to 70 slots and the stipend be increased from $750 to $1000.

“The situation is dire for a lot of our seniors out there as far as economics are concerned,” said the councilor. “And, I’ve been informed by the director of the senior center that there were 61 applications for this program this year, and all that encompasses the whole city.”

The proposal, officially known as a motion, was approved by the committee.

City Councilor Linda Vacon proposed to double the tax abatement for veterans as authorized by the Hero Act. This motion was also unanimously approved.

The agenda for the Ordinance Committee can be viewed here.