In contrast, the waters in the northern area of the Harbor, north and west of 
Long Island, often have the highest concentrations of pollutants. Inner Harbor waters, 
northwest of Castle Island, and other nearshore waters frequently fail to meet the 
minimum water quality standards. Periodic sewer overflows result in nearshore violations 
of standards in Dorchester and Quincy Bays and in Belle Isle Inlet. 
Boston Harbor supports a diverse community of marine organisms. However, 
the composition of benthic communities in the Inner Harbor, Deer Island/Governor's Island 
Flats, and Dorchester Bay indicates environmental stress. As noted, fin erosion has been 
found in winter flounder populations throughout the Harbor. 
A wide variety of marine mammals and endangered species frequent 
Massachusetts Bay: the right whale, humpback whale, fin whale and the pilot whales; 
leather-back and loggerhead sea turtles; Atlantic white-sided dolphin, harbor porpoise and 
harbor seal. Stellwagen Bank and Jeffrey's Ledge, both within Massachusetts Bay, are 
prime feeding grounds for many of the above species, particularly endangered fin, 
humpback, and right whales. Benthic communities in Massachusetts Bay are spatially 
variable. Benthic communities appear to be unimpacted by pollutant inputs from recent 
surveys, but highly variable because of substrate heterogeneity. 
The major pollutant discharges to Boston Harbor and Massachusetts Bay fall 
into the following categories: municipal discharges, sewage sludge, combined sewer 
overflows (CSOs), individual industrial discharges, and the foul area. Municipal 
wastewater discharges originate from 13 permitted dischargers with a total design flow of 
541 million gallons per day (mgd) bordering Massachusetts Bay. The 13 communities are 
Rockport, Gloucester, Manchester, Salem, South Essex Sewerage District, Swampscott, 
Lynn, Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA), the city of Boston's Long Island 
Hospital, Hull, Cohasset, Scituate, and Marshfield. Of these, the MWRA is the largest 
discharger with an average daily flow of approximately 465 mgd, of which 9.4 percent is 
industrial flow totaling 44 mgd. 
The other major municipal discharges in the area are the South Essex 
Sewerage District, as noted, which produces 41 mgd, with 40 percent industrial flow. 
Lynn contributes 25.8 mgd to Massachusetts Bay, of which 4 percent is industrial flow and 
Gloucester contributes 7.4 mgd with a 25 percent flow from fish processing industry and 5 
percent from industry. Hull and Swampscott contribute 3 and 0.2 mgd, respectively, in 
primarily domestic flows. 
I would like to briefly mention the status of the waivers for secondary 
treatment requirements from municipal discharges into Massachusetts Bay pursuant to 
section 301(h) of the Clean Water Act. There have been five applications filed for 
discharge into Massachusetts Bay; of these, the status is as follows: 
1. MDC (now the MWRA): A final decision for denial of that waiver 
was issued in April 1985. The reason for denial was impact on 
biological communities and dissolved oxygen violations projected. 
17 
