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<p class="MsoNormal"><b>From:</b> Healey, Michael (DEM) <Michael.Healey@dem.ri.gov>
<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Friday, June 10, 2022 2:20 PM<br>
<b>To:</b> Healey, Michael (DEM) <Michael.Healey@dem.ri.gov><br>
<b>Subject:</b> DEM press release: Ongoing discharges at Woonsocket sewage plant cause DEM to continue no-contact advisory on Blackstone River — 6/10/22<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p style="margin:0in;line-height:105%"><span style="font-size:18.0pt;line-height:105%;font-family:"Impact",sans-serif;color:#00457A">Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:105%"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:105%;font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif;color:#00457A">235 Promenade Street | Providence, RI 02908 | 401.222.4700 |</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:105%;font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif;color:#0070C0">
</span><a href="http://www.dem.ri.gov"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:105%;font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif;color:#0066FF">www.dem.ri.gov</span></a><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:105%;font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif;color:#0070C0">
</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:105%;font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif;color:#00457A">| @RhodeIslandDEM</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:105%;font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif;color:#1F497D"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif">CONTACT:</span></b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif">
<b>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:</b><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif">Mike Healey, 401-258-0787 Friday, June 10, 2022<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif"><a href="mailto:Michael.Healey@dem.ri.gov"><span style="color:#0066FF">Michael.Healey@dem.ri.gov</span></a><span style="color:#0066FF"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><b><span style="font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif">ONGOING DISCHARGES AT WOONSOCKET SEWAGE PLANT CAUSE<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><b><span style="font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif">DEM TO CONTINUE NO-CONTACT ADVISORY ON BLACKSTONE RIVER<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
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</v:shape><![endif]--><![if !vml]><img width="416" height="403" style="width:4.3333in;height:4.1979in" src="cid:image005.jpg@01D87F1C.A850D070" align="left" hspace="12" v:shapes="Picture_x0020_2"><![endif]><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif">PROVIDENCE,
RI – The no-contact advisory on the Blackstone River that the Department of Environmental Management (DEM) announced June 5 because of partly treated wastewater being discharged by the Woonsocket Regional Wastewater Treatment Facility will continue as the
plant’s operators correct ongoing unpermitted discharges, DEM is announcing today.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif">As a precaution, DEM advises that residents temporarily refrain from both primary contact recreational water activities (such as wading and swimming) and secondary contact
activities (such as canoeing, kayaking, rowing, and fishing) and to avoid consuming any fish from the Blackstone River and any waters that receive flow from the Blackstone River, including but not limited to the Blackstone Canal and Scott Pond, from the location
of the discharge, at 11 Cumberland Hill Road in Woonsocket, to the Slater Mill Dam in Pawtucket (see map above). This advisory is in effect until further notice.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif">The treatment facility is owned by the City of Woonsocket, which contracts the operations and maintenance of the plant to Jacobs, a Texas-based consulting and engineering
firm, and related sludge treatment systems to Synagro Technologies Inc. headquartered in Baltimore. As the state regulator of wastewater treatment facilities, DEM continues to investigate the causes of the discharges. DEM’s inspection team has been on site
daily investigating process and equipment failures that may have resulted in the loss of full treatment, as well as to observe the steps being taken by the city and its vendors to ensure a return to permit compliance. DEM issued letters of noncompliance to
the facility in November 2021 and March 2022 regarding operations and maintenance concerns.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif">The facility treats between six and eight million gallons of sewage from Woonsocket and nearby areas daily. Sewage from city residents as well as its commercial and industrial
establishments is continually collected and conveyed underground to the treatment facility, which removes pollutants in accordance with its state discharge permit before that water can discharged to the Blackstone River.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif">At DEM’s direction, plant personnel are continuing to take samples upstream and downstream of the plant outfall for analysis. After the June 5 no-contact advisory went
into effect, a DEM crew collected water samples at a series of 20 locations in the estuarine portion of the Providence and Seekonk Rivers from just below Slater Dam south to Conimicut Point. Analysis of these samples indicated that fecal coliform bacteria
levels in the Seekonk River were not elevated and that the discharge was not adversely affecting the water quality of shellfish grounds in the lower Providence River and Upper Narragansett Bay. (Please note: Lower Providence River E conditional shellfish area
is closed from 12 PM on June 4 to PM on June 16 due to rain. This is a routine rain closure.)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif">For more information about DEM divisions and programs, visit
<a href="http://www.dem.ri.gov"><span style="color:#0066FF">www.dem.ri.gov</span></a><span style="color:#0066FF">
</span>or follow us on <a href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.facebook.com/RhodeIslandDEM__;!!KKphUJtCzQ!MedBxgF6oYpdhoeaK1BFXRu-Zod8WRsnbqKRzoFajBEdSW2c8MNWuBj-ieisNg7eT508Wayeb_9SHKrEcDy2W_CndbWAD0sL5zCP$"><span style="color:#0066FF">Facebook</span> [facebook.com]</a>, Twitter (@RhodeIslandDEM), or Instagram (@rhodeisland.dem) for timely updates.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif">###<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#0066FF">Michael J. Healey | Chief Public Affairs Officer</span></b><b><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#1F4E79"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#212121">Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management</span><span style="color:#212121"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#212121">235 Promenade Street, Providence RI 02908</span><span style="color:#212121"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#212121">401-222-4700, X277-7273</span><span style="color:#212121"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#212121">Email: </span><a href="mailto:michael.healey@dem.ri.gov"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#0066FF">michael.healey@dem.ri.gov</span></a><span style="color:#212121"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#212121">Web: </span><a href="http://www.dem.ri.gov/"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#0066FF">www.dem.ri.gov</span></a><span style="color:#212121"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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