Nearly a month ago, video surfaced of what appeared to be toilet paper and human waste floating in the Connecticut River near Suffield after more than 400 million gallons of raw sewage leached downstream from several Massachusetts cities.
Now, Connecticut officials are calling on federal assistance to stop the ongoing problem.
State Rep. Tami Zawistowski, R-Suffield, along with State Rep. Devin Carney, R-Old Saybrook, sent a letter to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency urging federal coordination and support to address the issue. Zawistowski also claimed that she also reached out directly to U.S. Rep. John Larson’s office to send a letter to the EPA but so far they have not received a response.
“What we’re looking for is to at least get the parties in the same room together and come up with some kind of real solution because this is not something one state can do, and we certainly don’t have any power over Massachusetts, or vice versa,” Zawistowski said.
Zawistowski said several Massachusetts cities including Springfield, Chicopee and Holyoke have combined sewer overflows that frequently discharge sewage into the Connecticut River, where it goes downstream and impacts water quality. She noted that the issue is longstanding and has been a problem for decades.
An aerial view of the Founders Bridge, Connecticut River, and East Hartford from One State Street in Hartford on Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (Aaron Flaum/Hartford Courant)
Through July of this year, 23 million gallons of raw sewage entered into the river from Chicopee, 112 million gallons from Holyoke and 301 million gallons from Springfield, according to Massachusetts public records.
“The most major source north of us is Springfield and there is no mitigation efforts there,” Zawistowksi said. “These numbers are just through July, so we know this huge rainstorm we had this past weekend probably generated a lot more. That’s over 400 million gallons of sewage.”
A combined sewer system collects rainwater runoff, domestic sewage and industrial wastewater into one pipe. Normally, it can transport all of the wastewater to a treatment plant. Sometimes the amount of runoff exceeds the capacity of the system. When that happens, untreated stormwater and wastewater flow into nearby waterbodies.
Over the decades, as more awareness spread on environmental issues, municipalities began to phase out combined sewer systems. However several combined systems remain in densely populated areas including Hartford, New Haven, Norwich, Norwalk, Waterbury and Bridgeport, according to the Connecticut Department of Energy & Environmental Protection. Both Norwalk and Waterbury have isolated overflow systems at the treatment facilities, while the other four cities still have multiple overflow systems.
“These are really legacy systems well over 100 years old,” said Nisha Patel, director of the water planning and management division at DEEP. “We’re still dealing with the impact of these systems. When it’s not raining it’s usually fine, but since they were first developed we have had problems with sewage overflows going back decades.”
These events, called combined sewer overflows, are subject to the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permitting program. Municipalities that still have combined sewer overflows must submit long-term control plans to actively reduce and eliminate overflows. The state’s Clean Water Fund contributes millions each year to help remediate combined sewer overflows. However, long-term problems persist as completely eliminating overflows will take decades, according to officials.
This year alone there have been over 130 sewage overflows and spills reported across Connecticut, with the largest dumping 300,000 gallons into the Connecticut River,
“People do fish out of the Connecticut River and some of them are eating the fish, some people swim in the river, too,” Zawistowsi said. “A Boy Scout troop here in Suffield goes out to Kings Island and they say that they see stuff floating in the river all the time. They actually have to get into the water and out of their canoe. So it’s a real health hazard.”
Low tide is visible along the Connecticut River in East Haddam on Thursday, July 31, 2025. (Aaron Flaum/Hartford Courant)
There are far fewer combined sewer overflows remaining in Connecticut today as a result of construction projects that have been performed to control these overflows in most parts of the state. The Metropolitan District Commission has been working with the EPA and DEEP since the 1990s to reduce overflows. From 2006 to 2022, it achieved a 50% reduction in yearly overflows, 488 million gallons in total, according to DEEP.
According to Zawistowski, some Massachusetts communities are now beginning to take action.
Holyoke is working under court order on ways to mitigate their sewer overflow problem, including a $30 million sewer separation project in River Terrace, according to Mary Monahan, chair of the city’s Board of Public Works. In a 2023 settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice, the city agreed to take steps to reduce its discharge of sewage into the river, which was deemed a violation of federal and state regulations.
The work is designed to bring Holyoke into compliance with clean water standards by the time its complete in 2037, according to the city.
“The City of Holyoke continues to eliminate combined sewer overflows that cause discharges into the Connecticut River. The Holyoke wastewater system now prevents around 70 percent of solid waste from bypassing the treatment plant during heavy rains,” Monahan said in a statement.
“Holyoke was recently awarded $10 million in 2% interest loans (and some principal forgiveness) from the Commonwealth’s State Revolving Fund and a $2 million federal earmark for the River Terrace Sewer Separation project that will increase that reduction level to 85%, meet the current national requirements and put the city in full compliance with the Clean Water Act.”
Zawitwoski said she would like to see other cities like Springfield also take actions to correct the problem.
“It’s time to address this, partly because the MDC has that major $335 million tunnel project in Hartford, which is due to be completed next year. That project will eliminate combined sewer overflows in south Hartford, which has been a problem for decades. It’s time for Massachusetts to now step up,” she said.
Stephen Underwood can be reached at sunderwood@courant.com.
