Town Gets Grant for River Cleanup; Money Will Help Fight Pollution in Neponset

The Patriot Ledger

The Neponset River Watershed Association and the town of Milton have received a $132,000 state grant to fund a project aimed at decreasing the amount of pollutants entering the Neponset River from storm-water runoff. The grant will allow the association to buy special filters that will be installed under trees on sidewalks to catch nitrates, bacteria and other contaminants in storm-water runoff. “What it does for the town is continue to set Milton apart as a town that takes its environment seriously,” Town Administrator David Colton said. The project is one of 12 the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs has chosen to fund with the proceeds of a $2.3 million federal grant aimed at curtailing non-point source pollution. Ian Cooke, executive director of the watershed association, said he is grateful for the money and eager to begin installing the filters. The $132,000 grant will allow the association to buy 12 to 14 tree box filters.

Cooke said Milton will be leading the environmental pack with their installation, although Littleton has installed two or three.

“It will be the first time it has been done on the South Shore and in the largest scale in the state,” Cooke said. Cooke said it is another in a long list of actions taken to improve the river’s water quality.

“We’ve cleaned a lot of problems from failed sewers and septic tanks when the weather is dry,” Cooke said. “But when it rains, fertilizers, animal waste, organic waste and automobile oils run off sidewalks, streets and yards into the town’s drainage system,” Cooke said. “This tool will help decrease that.”

The tree box filters, Cooke said, are a simple solution to a large problem. Cooke said many people believe that the catch basins that collect runoff bring it to the Deer Island Sewage Treatment Plant in Winthrop. Not so, he said.

“Unless you happen to live in a new subdivision, maybe 10 or 15 years old, much of the older homes see the water from catch basins go from that grate into a stream or wetland,” Cooke said.

Cooke said the tree box filters catch pollutants before they get in the storm drains. The filters consist of a prefabricated concrete box with soil in which a tree is planted. Over the top of the box is a cast iron grate, Cooke said. “To the person walking by it looks like a normal tree when in fact it’s a storm water treatment device,” Cooke said. The boxes will be installed on the sidewalk several yards upstream from storm drains in the Central Avenue and Eliot Street areas, Cooke said.

“The advantage is it’s all predesigned, it’s installed on the street so there are no difficult wetlands permits to get or expensive designs to be made,” Cooke said. Installing the filters will be done by the public works department.

“It’ll save us money because we won’t have to spend money from the grant on installing them,” Colton said. Cooke said the filters are not a cure-all for runoff ills, however. “It’s adding treatment, not replacing an efficient and effective drainage system,” he said. L.E. Campenella may be reached at lcampenella@ledger.com.