Will Massachusetts Nix Its Water Pollution Plan?

A long-awaited plan to curb stormwater pollution in Massachusetts is going to be delayed and could be eliminated altogether.

The plan, the result of nearly of a decade of negotiations, was meant to go into effect last month.

But “new limits on how much polluted stormwater can flow from sewer pipes into streams, rivers and the ocean, laid out by the small MS4 general permit, were supposed to take effect July 1,” Rhode Island Public Radio reported.

“And it could be at risk of being weakened or eliminated by the Trump administration,” The Boston Globe reported.

State officials announced this month that they would follow the lead of the U.S. EPA, the report said. The government said it would delay implementation of the plan for at least a year.

“State officials had the option of pressing ahead, which would have required 260 Massachusetts municipalities to reduce stormwater runoff into their storm drains, steps that some cities and towns said could cost them millions of dollars a year and thousands of hours of their employees’ time,” the report said.

The plan would mandate that towns and cities "remove illegal sewer connections to storm drains, improve street sweeping, increase public education, and take other steps to cut the volume of stormwater entering sewer systems," it continued.

Environmentalists are concerned that the delay is a sign the rules will be watered down or entirely scrapped.

“We need these protections in place now, and there’s no reason to pause on a state level,” Joel Wool, a Massachusetts-based advocate for Clean Water Action, told The Daily News of Newburyport.

Critics of the delayed rules say they would be costly for small cities and towns.

“A legislative commission estimated that Massachusetts communities will spend more than $18 billion over the next two decades to meet the requirements,” the Daily News reported.

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