An update to all the prior sludge disposal evaluations was performed in 1982. 
The end result of these reports was that incineration was cited as the recommended 
alternative for disposal of MDC sludge. I might mention, however, that the Federal 
environmental impact reports were not deemed as providing an adequate assessment of 
alternatives under the Massachusetts environmental regulations, so there was no final 
concurrence on the recommended alternative by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. 
The basic problem was that while all the studies were being conducted from 
1971 through 1982, there was a concurrent change in the air quality regulations and 
permissible air emissions limits. During this time, new regulations were being proposed 
which dealt with toxic substances in air, especially at the state level. Massachusetts 
began to undertake a program whereby it would create its own state guidelines for these 
substances. 
At this point in 1982, the sludge management issue had yet to be resolved. 
Some people felt, in fact, that it could not be resolved until the waiver and siting 
decisions were made, because each of those decisions^placed different restraints on what 
options are available for sludge management. The most recent event impacting sludge 
management occurred in July 1984, when EPA issued an administrative order to the MDC. 
EPA felt, as everyone did, that plans to cease discharge of sludge to Boston Harbor were 
not moving along quite quickly enough. In response to that order, the MDC has chosen a 
specific plan to expedite sludge management, involving both interim and long-term 
initiatives. The long-term facilities plan, which will look at a whole array of disposal 
options, will begin in July 1985. The interim options have already been the subject of a 
study and include ways of disposing only the sludge currently produced by the existing 
treatment facilities, not sludge that will be produced once new facilities are constructed. 
The options include disposing of the sludge at either existing landfills or existing 
incinerators, composting it through a pilot facility that is now located on Deer Island, or 
disposing it in the ocean at the 106-Mile Site off the coast of New York and New Jersey. 
To summarize, the three issues which created quite a logjam of activity in 1983 were 
decisions on (1) the level of wastewater treatment, (2) where the plant(s) would be 
located, and (3) how to dispose of sludge. 
One event helping break the logjam was that one of the Harbor communities, 
the city of Quincy, filed a suit against the MDC and the Commonwealth for pollution of 
Boston Harbor. Though the actual contents of the suit were very narrow and specific to 
Quincy's concerns, the suit resulted in a schedule ordered by the state court and a court- 
appointed master to oversee that schedule. The schedule was developed in cooperation 
with a number of state environmental agencies and EPA. The work resulted in a 
comprehensive schedule to deal with upgrading the treatment plants, fixing some 
problems with combined sewage overflows (CSOs), and decreasing infiltration and inflow 
into the treatment system. 
By far, the greatest result of this court action was that the Massachusetts 
legislature passed a bill creating a new Massachusetts Water Resources Authority 
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