Ashland residents successfully advocate to not be the landing place for "sludge" from Boston Harbor.
Boston began having issues with managing its wastewater in the 1970s, as existing treatment plants fell into disrepair and the population in the area grew. For years, "sludge", the byproduct of sewage treatment facilities, was disposed of in the Boston Harbor; some environmentalists say this can be done safely and successfully, but ultimately Congress made it illegal in 1991 due to health concerns. In 1972, the federal government passed the Clean Water Act, which required metropolitan areas like Boston to have a secondary treatment process. Unsavory reports of sewage overflow led to federal court action against Massachusetts and the Environmental Protection Agency, which resulted in the creation of the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA) in 1984. The MWRA was tasked with cleaning up Boston Harbor and finding a new solution to the sludge problem.
One option is to incinerate the sludge and deposit the ash to a landfill, and Ashland is one location seriously considered as a disposal site. But when sludge is incinerated, the toxins from the wastewater become concentrated in the ash; Ashland residents are already concerned about heavy metals and toxic materials from the Nyanza site, and the new sludge site would be located near schools, business, parks, and a waterway. Residents form a Land Fill Community Advisory Committee to fight the effort. The MWRA changes its mind on Ashland and ultimately decides to develop a sludge fertilizer processing plant.
