Author: Stephen Silva

On behalf of the Taunton River Watershed Alliance (TRWA), the Wild and Scenic Taunton River Stewardship Council (TRSC) and our membership both organizations submitted comments to the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act (MEPA) Office on the Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Report: Lakeshore Center Phase 4 Bridgewater, MA Dated September 15, 2023 submitted by Claremont Companies. Click on this link for our comments.

This is the fourth phase of major Claremont Company development in the small Lake Nippenicket headwaters sub-watershed. TRWA and TRSC believe the lake and sub-watershed are already clearly showing adverse impact from previously completed phases.

As we did in previous comments on June 14, 2022 and January 22, 2023 we asked the applicant to show that the Lake Nippenicket sub-watershed and Raynham well’s aquifer have capacity to assimilate the phosphorus, bacteria and toxics (metals, PFAS, organics) from the impervious surfaces of both the existing and proposed phases of development.

The evidence available indicates that this sensitive site which was designated an Area of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC) in 1989 has reached its full development potential. Lake Nippenicket and the Raynham Center Water District’s aquifer are over their capacity to absorb more pollution. The company has not monitoring Lake Nippenicket and the aquifer to determine what further measures are needed to mitigate the water quality harm from their already completed phases of development.

The Taunton River Watershed Alliance, Inc. (TRWA), and the Wild & Scenic Taunton River Stewardship Council (TRSC) requested that a MEPA approval not be granted and further expansion of this development be prohibited.

Our October sampling results are in so we now have the full 2023 sampling year April through October on the website at the Water Quality Monitoring tab if you click on the sample bottles picture or link in the Documents section.

Our 2023 sampling results were very useful and instructive. They clearly show the influence of climate change generated intense rainstorms in July and September. The high stormwater runoff from these storms increased total phosphorus levels and greatly increased bacteria levels which are the fingerprints of inadequate management of stormwater throughout the watershed. We obviously will be working with our statewide watershed organization partners to get the state and EPA to update their inadequate stormwater regulation.

During the dryer months like June and October we saw the familiar pattern of too much nitrogen for the health of the Taunton River estuary and Mount Hope Bay. TRWA and our partners Save The Bay in Rhode Island met with EPA Region 1 recently and obtained a commitment from EPA to issue draft permits for the long overdue Somerset and Fall River Clean Water Act permits with nitrogen effluent limitations similar to the 5 upriver plants by February of 2024. We will be checking in with EPA after the first of next year and intend to hold them to their commitment.

Finally, as mentioned last month A recent Southeast New England Coastal Watershed Restoration Program (SNEP) newsletter mentioned that MassDEP’s two continuous monitoring buoys in Mount Hope Bay are now measuring more water quality violations in wet years. Before 4 of the 5 up river wastewater treatment plants were upgraded (Taunton is still under construction) the situation was reversed with poorer water quality measured in the Bay during drier years. This underscores as does our monitoring the need to complete nitrogen removal upgrades for all the watershed’s 7 major treatment plants and for much better regulation and treatment of stormwater. It also shows the need for reducing and finally eliminating Fall River’s combined sewer overflows.

Our most recent sampling summary spreadsheets showing the results for April through August are available here and at the Water Quality Monitoring TRWA website home page tab if you click on the sample bottles picture or link in the Documents section.

In August we sampled just before a large rainstorm. River flow was still relatively high from an unusually wet summer but not as high as it might have been. Like last month despite high stream flow to dilute wastewater discharges we saw elevated nitrate concentration values in the Matfield River and Taunton main stem. This, demonstrates a watershed with too much nitrogen and illustrates the importance of EPA issuing new permits to Somerset and Fall River with nitrogen reduction requirements to help reduce overall nitrogen in the estuary. As mentioned last month TRWA and Save The Bay in RI have a meeting scheduled with EPA Region 1 to discuss permit issuance.

The high stormwater runoff resulted in elevated phosphorus measured in-stream at several locations illustrating a need for better stormwater management in the watershed. As mentioned last month, we are pleased that EPA Region 1 was recently ordered by federal court to improve stormwater management in the Charles, Mystic and Neponset River watersheds around Boston by requiring permits for currently unregulated commercial sources. With this recent decision, the EPA has a clear timeline: they are required to issue these draft permits by September 2024, which is a huge step for ensuring cleaner water in local Boston rivers! Read the CLF article here>>. The hope is this program will be expanded to the Taunton River watershed which similarly has documented water quality standards violations caused by stormwater.

All locations violated the bacteria water quality standards but by smaller margins than last month. This is a result of inadequate stormwater management. There is a working group attempting to develop updated stormwater regulations for new development since February 2020 read about the working group here but the pace is glacial while more intense storms caused by climate change are happening now. TRWA is working with the other state watershed groups to try to hasten this effort. We also support action to regulate stormwater from large existing commercial development which was the subject of the Charles River lawsuit mentioned above.

We have received the July sampling results. Our most recent sampling summary spreadsheets showing the results for April through July are available here and at the Water Quality Monitoring TRWA website home page tab if you click on the sample bottles picture or link in the Documents section.

Despite high stream flow to dilute wastewater discharges we saw elevated nitrate concentration values in the Matfield River and Taunton main stem. This demonstrates a watershed with too much nitrogen and illustrates the importance of EPA issuing new permits to Somerset and Fall River with nitrogen reduction requirements to help reduce overall nitrogen in the estuary. We are working with Save The Bay in RI and have a meeting with EPA to discuss permit issuance scheduled for early next federal fiscal year (October).

The high stormwater runoff resulted in elevated phosphorus measured in-stream illustrating a need for better stormwater management in the watershed. EPA Region 1 was recently ordered by federal court to improve stormwater management in the Charles, Mystic and Neponset River watersheds around Boston by requiring permits for currently unregulated commercial sources. With this recent decision, the EPA has a clear timeline: they are required to issue these draft permits by September 2024, which is a huge step for ensuring cleaner water in local Boston rivers! Read the CLF article here>>. The hope is this program once developed will be expanded to other areas suffering stormwater caused water quality standards violations including the Taunton River watershed.

The most dramatic results from the July sampling are the bacteria results. All locations violated the water quality standards by substantial margins. This is another indication of inadequate stormwater management. Currently MassDEP has stormwater regulations which, like EPA’s, are only applicable to new commercial development. The regulations were developed in 1996 and last updated in 2008. They use a stormwater flow estimation method developed over 40 years ago. This is obviously not adequate considering the more intense storms we see today from climate change. There is a working group attempting to develop updated regulations since February 2020 read about the working group here but the pace is glacial while climate change effects are happening fast. TRWA is working with the other state watershed groups to try to hasten this effort.

As shown on our Google map of sampling locations MassDEP has 2 continuous monitoring stations in Mount Hope Bay. In 2017 and 2018 these sites were measuring more violations in the driest years. Recent monitoring has measured more dissolved oxygen water quality criteria violations in wetter years demonstrating the impact of inadequate watershed wide stormwater management and the City of Fall River’s 19 combined sewer overflows.

Our most recent sampling summary spreadsheets showing the results for April and May 2023 are posted on the website and can be reached through the Water Quality Monitoring Tab or this link. Despite relatively high spring stream flow (similar to last month) we found elevated nitrate results downstream of the Brockton wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) in the Matfield River and downstream in the Taunton River as far as Cherry St. in Bridgewater. Total Phosphorus (TP) measured was below the 0.100 mg/l in-stream target used by EPA in permit limit development but somewhat elevated in the 0.06 to 0.08 mg/l range downstream of the Brockton, Bridgewater and Taunton WWTPs. TP levels of 0.075 and .052 mg/l were measured in the Taunton River in Raynham at Church St. and the Forge River in Raynham possibly from stormwater runoff from paved parking lots and roadways in the area. This is an indication of a potential need for better stormwater management. Bacteria levels (enterococci) were all in compliance with state standards except the small Chuckamuckett Brook which flows out of Berkley near the Berkley / Dighton Bridge. We often find high nitrate and bacteria levels in this brook consistent with agricultural runoff.

As stream flow decreases this summer and temperatures rise we will be looking to see how this affects water quality. We will also be looking to see how recent work on upgrades at the Brockton and Bridgewater WWTPs affect water quality. Middleborough and the Mansfield/Foxboro/Norton Regional WWTPs completed upgrades in 2019. Both TRWA and our partners at Save The Bay in RI have been encouraging EPA Region 1 in Boston to reissue the last two WWTP permits requiring nitrogen removal upgrades Somerset and Fall River this year so that all seven major WWTPs in the watershed will have adequate wastewater treatment someday.

TRWA sampling results for April are available on the website.

We want to thank our sampling volunteers for a great first month of the season! All sites and quality control duplicate and blank samples were collected.

Streamflow is high and the water cold in April so we don’t usually anticipate measurement of water quality concerns like we might find during summer heat and low flow. We didn’t see major problems this month. A few nutrient concerns noted will bear watching as lower flow and warmer weather returns. All the bacteria samples met the state’s water quality criteria even though we are using the state’s relatively new more sensitive bacteria indicator species enterococci.

We saw an elevated nitrate value in the Matfield River possibly because Brocton WWTP hasn’t started full nitrogen removal yet (required May through October as an average limit), a slightly elevated value at Center St. in Berkley downstream of Taunton WWTP which is currently working to complete nitrogen removal facilities, and a high value at Chuckamuckett Brook which we have seen in previous years and is likely due to agricultural sources. Fortunately, Chuckamuckett Brook has a low flow.

We saw one elevated total phosphorus value in the Nemasket River which may be due to wastewater treatment plant seasonal phosphorus removal start up issues.

 As far as dissolved oxygen (DO),  pH and Temperature are concerned (second spreadsheet) we saw two unexpectedly low pH values. The pH in our watershed is naturally acidic due to swamps, bogs and pine forested areas so we usually don’t note low pH’s unless below pH 4.0, (significantly outside the expected natural range – pH 7.0 is neutral and it is a log scale meaning each unit of 1means 10 times more acidic). We had a pH 2.84 on the Matfield River and pH 3.97 on the Cotley River. We will watch these areas to see if the unusual values are repeated.

 We moved two sampling locations this season. The most significant is we stopped measuring at TBR-01 a very small feeder stream to Lake Rico in Massasoit State Park which is often dry and instead are monitoring the main stem of the Taunton River at Church St. in Raynham (CHU-01). This gives a main stem location about half way between our two lower river sites in Berkley and Taunton and the two upper sites in Bridgewater. There is large development planned along the Taunton River a short distance upstream of Church St. so this will be an important site to watch. We shifted the Segregansett River site (SEG) back to its original location on Brook St. in Dighton (it had been moved to an upstream bridge crossing due to occasional low water). The SEG team wants to try this location again to see if we can get samples closer to the Taunton main stem.

 We always anticipate start-up glitches after the winter sampling hiatus but our samplers did great!

 Again we want to thank our dedicated samplers for all they do!

TRWA sent a comment letter on the December 15,2022 Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) proposed for Lakeshore Center Phase 4 in Bridgewater. As the letter states TRWA urged that the Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) withhold approval of or deny this project which has significant potential to adversely affect the headwaters of the Taunton River including Lake Nippenicket and the Town River.

The (DEIR) leaves reasons to question this major project in such a small vulnerable headwaters watershed which is already suffering adverse impacts from previously completed project phases. The proposed project will disturb 27.85 acres, create 12.74 acres of new impervious cover and include 1,114 parking spaces. There is a need for greater information for adequate review by both interested citizens and public agencies. Areas of concern raised in our letter include:

• Receiving waters assimilative capacity (streams on site, Lake Nippenicket and Town River)
• Stormwater
• Area of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC) of Hockomock Swamp
• Cumulative Impacts (previous phases plus this proposed phase of development)
• Archaeological Resources and Tribal Consultation
• Buffer Zone Protection (wetlands, streams and lake)
• Restaurant proposed on the Lake Nippenicket Shoreline
• Request by TRWA for a Monitoring Program
• Impact on perennial streams draining the three wetlands on site
• Impact on Town of Raynham Zone II aquifer

As a result of TRWA’s and other citizen comments the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act (MEPA) office recently advised Lakeshore Development that there DEIR was insufficient and should be withdrawn.