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| 2 | 2 | | HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 2758 FILED ON: 1/16/2025 |
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| 3 | 3 | | HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 1031 |
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| 4 | 4 | | The Commonwealth of Massachusetts |
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| 5 | 5 | | _________________ |
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| 6 | 6 | | PRESENTED BY: |
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| 7 | 7 | | David M. Rogers and Sean Garballey |
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| 8 | 8 | | _________________ |
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| 9 | 9 | | To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General |
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| 10 | 10 | | Court assembled: |
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| 11 | 11 | | The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill: |
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| 12 | 12 | | An Act relative to combined sewer overflows. |
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| 13 | 13 | | _______________ |
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| 14 | 14 | | PETITION OF: |
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| 15 | 15 | | NAME:DISTRICT/ADDRESS :DATE ADDED:David M. Rogers24th Middlesex1/16/2025Sean Garballey23rd Middlesex1/16/2025 1 of 3 |
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| 16 | 16 | | HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 2758 FILED ON: 1/16/2025 |
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| 17 | 17 | | HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 1031 |
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| 18 | 18 | | By Representatives Rogers of Cambridge and Garballey of Arlington, a petition (accompanied |
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| 19 | 19 | | by bill, House, No. 1031) of David M. Rogers and Sean Garballey relative to combined sewer |
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| 20 | 20 | | overflows. Environment and Natural Resources. |
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| 21 | 21 | | [SIMILAR MATTER FILED IN PREVIOUS SESSION |
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| 22 | 22 | | SEE HOUSE, NO. 886 OF 2023-2024.] |
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| 23 | 23 | | The Commonwealth of Massachusetts |
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| 24 | 24 | | _______________ |
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| 25 | 25 | | In the One Hundred and Ninety-Fourth General Court |
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| 26 | 26 | | (2025-2026) |
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| 27 | 27 | | _______________ |
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| 28 | 28 | | An Act relative to combined sewer overflows. |
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| 29 | 29 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority |
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| 30 | 30 | | of the same, as follows: |
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| 31 | 31 | | 1 Chapter 21 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2020 Official Edition, is hereby |
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| 32 | 32 | | 2amended by adding the following section: |
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| 33 | 33 | | 3 Section 27B |
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| 34 | 34 | | 4 a) As used in this Section, the following words and phrases shall have the following |
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| 35 | 35 | | 5meanings unless the context clearly requires otherwise: |
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| 36 | 36 | | 6 “Combined Sewer System” is a wastewater collection system of a municipality or of a |
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| 37 | 37 | | 7Publicly Owned Treatment Works that conveys sanitary wastewaters (domestic, commercial, and |
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| 38 | 38 | | 8industrial wastewaters) and storm water through a single-pipe system to a treatment plant. 2 of 3 |
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| 39 | 39 | | 9 “Combined Sewer Overflow” is a discharge or release from a Combined Sewer System |
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| 40 | 40 | | 10directly or indirectly to a water of the commonwealth at a point prior to a Publicly Owned |
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| 41 | 41 | | 11Treatment Works Treatment Plant. |
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| 42 | 42 | | 12 “Publicly Owned Treatment Works” is a treatment works as defined by Section 212 of |
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| 43 | 43 | | 13the Clean Water Act that is owned by a state or municipality as defined by Section 502(4) of the |
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| 44 | 44 | | 14Clean Water Act, which includes the treatment works of the Massachusetts Water Resources |
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| 45 | 45 | | 15Authority. This definition includes any devices and systems used in the storage, treatment, |
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| 46 | 46 | | 16recycling, and reclamation of municipal sewage or industrial wastes of a liquid nature. It also |
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| 47 | 47 | | 17includes sewers, pipes, and other conveyances that convey wastewater to a sewage treatment |
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| 48 | 48 | | 18plant. |
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| 49 | 49 | | 19 “Publicly Owned Treatment Works Treatment Plant” is that portion of the Publicly |
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| 50 | 50 | | 20Owned Treatment Works that is designed to provide at least secondary treatment, including |
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| 51 | 51 | | 21recycling and reclamation, of municipal sewage and industrial waste. That includes the |
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| 52 | 52 | | 22Massachusetts Water Resources Treatment Plant at Deer Island. |
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| 53 | 53 | | 23 “Untreated Combined Sewer Overflow” is a discharge or release that does not include at |
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| 54 | 54 | | 24least the removal of solids and treatment to deactivate bacteria. |
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| 55 | 55 | | 25 b) Beginning on January 1, 2035, in the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority sewer |
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| 56 | 56 | | 26service areas set forth in Acts of 1984, chapter 372, Section 8(c), there shall be no untreated |
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| 57 | 57 | | 27Combined Sewer Overflow in any 25-year 24-hour storm event or smaller storm event. |
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| 58 | 58 | | 28 c) Within 18 months, the Department of Environmental Protection shall adopt regulations |
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| 59 | 59 | | 29to implement this Section that shall include, but not be limited to, the definition of a 25-year 24- |
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| 60 | 60 | | 30hour storm event, which it shall update from time to time as the climate changes, and a definition 3 of 3 |
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| 61 | 61 | | 31of Combined Sewer Overflow treatment that shall include at a minimum removal of solids and |
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| 62 | 62 | | 32treatment to deactivate bacteria, which it shall update from time to time as technology changes. |
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