Studies on nitrogen reduction in sewage receive funding

Wareham's sewer system may receive a boost in its capability to handle nitrogen as the town recently received funding to study two ways of reducing the amount of nitrogen entering its waters from sewer and septic systems. 

Nitrogen is a major limiting factor in the capacity of Wareham's sewer system. 

High levels of nitrogen harm the environment, and sewer treatment plants can only take so much out of the sewage they treat. Wareham’s facility reduces nitrogen in wastewater by approximately 90%, according to the Buzzards Bay Coalition.

The amount of nitrogen leftover limits how much treated water can be discharged into the environment from a sewer plant. In Wareham's case, nitrogen limits restrict the plant to 1.56 million gallons a day of discharge — less than the plant's 2 million gallons a day of treatment capacity. 

The Buzzards Bay National Estuary Program, administered by the Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management, announced on Thursday, Oct. 12 a total of $315,000 in funding for two projects studying nitrogen reduction. 

The Town of Wareham will receive $275,000, in partnership with the Marine Biological Laboratory, to scale up pilot studies on nitrogen reduction at the sewer plant. 

Pilot studies at the plant showed a promising way of reducing nitrogen levels in treated wastewater, according to Coastal Zone Management. It passes sewage through biofilters made of wood chip media; biofilters use organic matter to filter out unwanted substances from water or air. 

The expanded study funded by the new grant will scale those pilot studies up to 40 foot reactors, and will examine what it would take to manage the wastewater treatment facility's daily flows. 

If successful, it could lower the nitrogen levels in the facility's treated wastewater. That could allow the facility to safely discharge more water than it is currently allowed to do, thus expanding the sewer plant's capacity. 

The remaining $40,000 will go to the town of Wareham and the Buzzards Bay Coalition. It will fund a study examining whether the town could build a neighborhood-scale wastewater system near Little Harbor Beach on Great Neck, with the purpose of reducing nitrogen flows.  

New regulations will require towns in high nitrogen areas to switch to a comprehensive sewer system or to upgrade all septic systems with nitrogen removing systems; Cape Cod is currently implementing these new regulations as part of Phase 1 of their roll out, and Wareham is part of Phase 2. 

Senator Marc Pacheco and Representative Susan Grifford praised the funding. 

"At a time when Wareham is facing challenges associated with the operation of the Water Pollution Control Facility this grant funding is very much appreciated," said Grifford.