Nancy Lavin of the Rhode Island Current joined this week’s episode of “Behind the Story” to discuss persistent issues surrounding sewage treatment in Woonsocket.
Nancy Lavin has been tracking the issue for months and most recently reported on the city’s contract with a new company to operate its wastewater treatment facility.
Meanwhile, the city is still trying to figure out what to do with its sludge incinerator, which has long been a source of controversy.
The facility serves a regional need but has also been a source of pollution, lawsuits and frustration for local officials and residents. Efforts to build new sludge-treatment facilities elsewhere have also sputtered.
“It seems like overall, no one is going to want to have any kind of sludge treatment in their community,” Lavin said. “And we’re going to need one somewhere.”
City officials have long promised to close the controversial sludge incinerator, but Lavin said it could take some time because of existing agreements the city has with other communities that would have to be wound down.
“If you have lived there for 50 years and every seventh day it stinks — that’s terrible stuff,” Lavin said.
Later in the show, Dan and Eli discussed the “stories we wish we wrote.” They included:
“Behind the Story” is hosted by Eli Sherman and Kim Kalunian of 12 News, along with Dan McGowan of The Boston Globe.