![]() ![]() The resulting sludge is converted to high-grade fertilizer.” “The plant separates the solid and liquid waste, and it pumps the treated water through the 9.5-mile outfall pipe, which empties into Massachusetts Bay. “The outfall pipe,” say several simultaneously. ![]() Berman, his booming baritone competing with the roar of planes taking off from Logan Airport, has a habit of putting students on the spot to see if they’re paying attention. “And what comes out of the Deer Island treatment plant?” he asks. The plant treats an average of 350 million gallons of sewage a day. “What I’m trying to impress upon students is how this incredible comeback occurred, and how business, advocacy groups, environmentalists, and government can affect the outcome of large projects such as the Boston Harbor Cleanup through negotiation.”īerman points to the left as the boat cruises by the cleanup’s centerpiece: the gargantuan white egglike tanks of the Deer Island waste treatment plant, which in 1995 replaced the antiquated facility. “It was one of the filthiest harbors in America, and now it’s one of the cleanest,” says Berman. Now the harbor teems with plants and animals, and people can legally dig for clams on Carson Beach in South Boston, which was unheard of in the 1980s. Since then, bacteria counts in the water have decreased by more than two-thirds. The antiquated sewage treatment plants on Deer Island and Nut Island were so poorly designed and maintained that they flooded during even mild rainstorms, sending millions of gallons of untreated waste directly into the harbor. Those were the days when untreated human waste, syringes, condoms, and tampon applicators routinely washed ashore. “The Boston Harbor Cleanup is an amazing success story, and I just love to share it with students,” says Berman, noting that the harbor’s “bad old days” weren’t that long ago. He also teaches a Metropolitan College summer course called Politics, Public Relations, and Public Policy: The Boston Harbor Cleanup. ![]() But there was a time when Boston Harbor wasn’t so clean, when the stench of sewage assaulted the nostrils of anyone who went near it.īerman is the communications director for Save the Harbor/Save the Bay, a public-interest environmental advocacy organization whose mission is to help restore and protect the harbor and Massachusetts Bay. It’s a brilliant July day, with the smell of salt spray in the air. Photo by Vernon Doucetteīruce Berman, aboard a ferry from Boston’s Long Wharf to Georges Island, poses a question to his students: “How clean is clean enough?” On Georges Island, Bruce Berman talks with his students about the history of the Boston Harbor Cleanup, Learning about the Boston Harbor Cleanup from the waterway’s eyes, ears, and mouthpiece ![]()
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