By Paul Tuthill
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Greenfield, MA – As flood waters recede in Massachusetts danger follows. Authorities are cautioning people to be aware of pollution and hazardous debris. WAMC"s Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief Paul Tuthill reports
Raw sewerage is flowing into the Deerfield River and eventually to the Connecticut River because of the shutdown of the town of Greenfield's wastewater treatment plant. The plant was inundated by flood waters Sunday. The Massachusetts Department of Public Health issued a health advisory Tuesday morning because bacterial contamination is expected.
Ed Colletta , a spokesman for the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection said people should stay away from the water.
Colletta said the Greenfield plant treats a daily average of three point four million gallons of sewerage.
Because the wastewater treatment plant is still surrounded by flood waters, officials have been unable to enter the facility to make a damage assessment and estimate how long repairs might take.
Colletta said DEP will begin collecting samples of the Connecticut River today at various spots downstream from the confluence with the Deerfield River to test for bacteria.
Andrew Fisk, executive director of the Connecticut River Watershed Council says the raw sewerage discharge should not cause lasting harm.
Authorities are also cautioning people to be aware of hazardous debris swept up by the rapidly moving flood waters and now being deposited in yards, farm fields and riverbanks, as the water recedes.
Peter Judge, spokesman for the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency says among the dangerous debris people have discovered are propane tanks.
Forecasters say the Connecticut river is causing moderate flooding in Northampton, Easthampton and Hadley. Some local streets remain closed. The river is expected to go below flood stage everywhere in Massachusetts by Wednesday morning.
The Massachusett Emergency Management Agency says utility crews continue to make progress restoring power statewide. As of Tuesday morning, the number of outages was 250 thousand , almost half the number from Monday.