Stopping stormwater pollution at the source: finally, CLF gets MassHighway to clean up its act.

• Position: PROGRESS REPORT - Conservation Law Foundation of New England

BACKGROUND

With more than 4,000 miles of roadways across the Commonwealth dumping polluted stormwater into waterways at 18,000 different locations, MassHighway is one of the biggest contributors to water pollution in the state. MassHighway is responsible for properly managing polluted stormwater runoff on all of those roads. If untreated stormwater flows into nearby ponds, lakes, rivers and streams, it causes pollution in those water bodies to skyrocket. It's also against the law.

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THE PROBLEM

MassHighway was using outdated and insufficient systems to manage toxic runoff, or not using them at all. As a result, excessive amounts of metals such as lead, copper and zinc, along with other pollutants, were causing dangerously high pollution levels in waterways throughout the state. This pervasive problem was threatening the health of plants and wildlife in those areas and endangering the safety of residents in nearby communities. What's more, MassHighway hadn't done any system-wide planning to prevent further pollution incidents from happening in the future.

CLF IN ACTION

CLF set out to prove that MassHighway was failing to properly manage toxic runoff,.and that the resulting pollution levels in nearby water bodies exceeded the maximum limits allowable by law. Over a period of five years, CLF held the department's feet to the fire, demonstrating that by not cleaning up existing pollution or producing an adequate plan for managing that pollution in the future, MassHighway had not fulfilled its obligations. But even after U.S. District Court Judge William G. Young ordered MassHighway to take the necessary corrective measures in 2008, the department was slow to make changes.

PROGRESS!

Come 2010, MassHighway had still not implemented the required stormwater controls, the need for which was growing more dire every day, and Judge Young had had enough. Siding with CLF, he felt that the issue was now severe enough to put pressure on the state to make the change. "To say I'm disappointed is mild," Judge Young said. "We're not having another trial. This is where we're going to start, within three weeks from today." It was the push that MassHighway needed-Over the next year, the MassHighway, now a division within MassDOT, implemented...