Connecticut River Cleanup Committee Prepares for Construction Season
With $1.5 million in funding for the Connecticut River Cleanup Committee, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is supporting critical work to eliminate combined sewer overflows.
Monies will be directed to several projects this year in Springfield, Chicopee and Holyoke to further reduce the amount of untreated sewage that annually spills into the Connecticut River during rainstorms.
This is the seventh straight year of funding from the Commonwealth for CSO work in the region, all of which has come from authorizations within the State’s Environmental Bond Bills.
"Holyoke is pleased to continue the work of cleaning up the Connecticut River and appreciative of the funding provided to accomplish this while trying to reduce the burden on rate payers,” said Holyoke’s Acting Mayor Terry Murphy.
“The Connecticut River Cleanup Committee illustrates the power of regional collaboration across city lines to address the shared environmental and financial challenges of Combined Sewer Overflows and the harm they cause our Valley’s waterways,” said PVPC Executive Director Kimberly H. Robinson. “We are proud to work with great local leaders like Mayors Sarno, Vieau, and Murphy, as well as the Springfield Water and Sewer Commission and the Commonwealth’s Department of Environmental Protection to, in due time, remove every last trace of this legacy infrastructure from our communities.”
The Connecticut River Cleanup Committee (CRCC) is a regional collaborative convened and staffed by the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission since 1993 that has brought together communities in addressing combined sewer infrastructure issues. The Committee now includes the Cities of Chicopee and Holyoke, the Springfield Water & Sewer Commission (SWSC), and the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection.
Recent CSO work supported by the Commonwealth via the CRCC includes: