Damage after May, 2023 incident. Photo by MWRA.
The MWRA today sued a maintenance company for the nearly $4.4 million it says it will cost to replace an electricity-generating wind turbine at Deer Island it charges was destroyed because the company let what should have been a relatively routine shutdown for some repairs turn into a catastrophic event in which the turbine's blades began to separate from the device. Read more.
Mary Ellen says the local birding community is all atwitter about a fallout of red phalaropes off Cape Cod, far from their normal nesting areas in the Arctic - to which they migrate from southern oceans - so she reports she was pleasantly surprised when she spotted one in the water off Deer Island on a walk this morning.
Covid-19 particles found in sewage at Deer Island (from northern half of MWRA; southern half is similar).
Jon Levy, chair of environmental health at the BU School of Public Health, took a look last night at the latest Covid-19 viral particle numbers from the Deer Island treatment plant and noticed the rather sharp spike - which should mean an increase in actual Covid-19 numbers in another week to ten days. Read more.
Latest results of Deer Island testing. Source.
The latest sampling results from sewage at the MWRA's Deer Island plant continue to forecast the current Covid-19 surge is breaking. But the numbers are still higher than those reported at the peak of last winter's surge. Read more.
Latest Deer Island sampling from the MWRA, which can predict future cases: Green is roughly north of Rte. 9; orange south of it.
The Massachusetts Department of Public Health today reported 21,137 confirmed Covid-19 cases, a new state daily record, and the fourth new record in a week. Read more.
Samples from the MWRA's Deer Island treatment plant now show higher levels of Covid-19 viral particles than even during last winter's surge. Read more.
Joe Kidston walked Rocky Beach in Cohasset this morning, reports western-wildfire smoke was still hazing everything up: Read more.
Latest readings from the MWRA's southern sewer system.
The latest Covid-19 RNA readings from the MWRA's Deer Island treatment plant are out and not looking good: After a short stretch in late December where it looked like they were flattening or even coming down, they're once again on a near vertical rise, possibly foretelling yet another spike in Boston Covid-19 numbers. Read more.
The different colors represent the MWRA's two main greater-Boston sewer systems.
The MWRA's Covid-19 testing at Deer Island is a predictor: It detects viral samples excreted by Boston-area toilet users (i.e., all of us), including by people who don't yet realize they're infected. The chart updated yesterday shows we'll soon be way, way, way past the numbers seen in the spring. The vaccines can't get here soon enough, but in the meantime, could more than the relatively modest rollbacks announced by the governor today be coming?
The latest chart of Covid-19 prevalence in sewage flowing through the Deer Island treatment plant shows numbers basically going vertical through Dec. 1 - and far exceeding the numbers reported just before and during the spring Covid-19 surge. Read more.
WCVB shows video of a whale feeding and breaching near Deer Island yesterday.
Henry Dane took some time to enjoy tonight's sunset over Boston Harbor from Deer Island.
Henry Dane checks in from Deer Island this evening:
Vincent would have appreciated this sky. Beautiful night and last chance to get a run in before the Deluge.
Adam Balsam gives us a closeup nighttime view of the "digester" tanks at Deer Island, where zillions of bacteria contentedly spend their days munching human sewage.
Copyright Adam Balsam. Posted in the Universal Hub pool on Flickr.
The Boston Fire Department reports a 55-gallon drum full of unspecified hazardous waste materials at the MWRA treatment plant became "over pressurized."
We sent in an entry team under air in level B suits to release the pressure from the drum. There were no exposures or spills . There are no injuries to report. We evacuated the building as a precaution.
One thing the Trump shutdown didn't end was a plan by the Army Corps of Engineers to set off explosives at the bottom of Boston Harbor tomorrow to deepen a shipping channel. It took a judge to do that. Read more.
Hunters looking to bag some ducks may be breaking state law by having people drive boats at the large number of ducks congregating in Boston Harbor, making them fly away in a panic - and become easier targets. Read more.
A juvenile humpback whale was seen breaching off of Spectacle Island earlier today pic.twitter.com/iqp1Bdak50
— MassDCR (@MassDCR) August 28, 2018
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