NEWBURYPORT — As a broken sewer line in Haverhill continues to send millions of gallons of untreated sewage into the Merrimack River and cause folks to stay out of the water and away from beaches, officials discussed the impacts on the local economy as the Fourth of July draws near.
“The timing couldn’t be much worse,” Harbormaster Paul Hogg said. “Being a tourist community, we all rely on these busy times of the year, Fourth of July, Father’s Day, Memorial Day, Yankee Homecoming. You know, those are our big, big time to make money because they’re long, long winters. So the timing couldn’t be worse.”
An estimated 8 million gallons of untreated sewage has been flowing into the Merrimack River at least since Saturday when sewer breaks were initially revealed by Haverhill officials. The trouble began Thursday night when a torrential rainstorm caused wastewater flows to increase rapidly, placing significantly greater demand on the critical pipeline, Haverhill Mayor Melinda Barrett explained.
As a result of the overflow, beaches downstream of Haverhill all the way to Plum Island Beach saw closures and advisories not to swim, with Plum Island Beach still closed to swimming as of Tuesday and that closure set to remain in effect until repairs are completed and testing confirms the water is safe.
Hogg said this has been a big hit to boating season, affecting all marinas and roughly 1,500 boats.
“It’s been bad,” Hogg said. “We had a lot of people cancel their dock reservations. Plum Island, nobody’s going to the beach because what’s the point of going to the beach if you can’t go in the water? So a lot of people are just not going so our numbers are down, our revenue is definitely down.”
Overall, he said it creates a trickle effect.
“Because if people aren’t using the beach or coming here, they’re not going to restaurants,” Hogg said. “Then people are also nervous, I’ve been getting a lot of inquiries about eating the fish. People aren’t going out on the boats fishing because they’re nervous about the lines in the water. They’re nervous about eating the fish. So it’s just the trickle effect. It’s affecting anything and everything water-related.”
Newburyport Mayor Sean Reardon said Tuesday it is too early to full assess the economic damage.
“I don’t think we will know the real impacts for a few weeks,” Reardon said.
On Monday, Reardon discussed the unfortunate timing of the incident.
“With the busy Fourth of July weekend approaching, this is quickly becoming both a public health concern and an economic disaster for communities along the Merrimack River,” he said. “We also hope the EPA becomes involved to ensure every available resource is brought to bear.”
Hogg said it has been exhausting dealing with the volume of calls that have come in about the situation.
“My whole day has been fielding calls and questions on what to do,” Hogg said. “City councilors have been reaching out. I have been working with the mayor’s office. I’ve been working with the Health Department, Senator (Bruce) Tarr’s office, our state rep. Dawne Shand. So we’re all just trying to stay on top of this and figure out what we’re going to do, not only now to stop it, but also moving forward.”
He said at least most people have been able to have a good sense of humor while interacting with him.
“I keep on getting the joke, everyone’s sending me the picture from ‘Jaws’. But the beaches are gonna be open for the Fourth, right?” Hogg said.
The most recent timeline for repairs was to have them done at earliest by the end of the week, a timeline Reardon has called “unacceptable.”
Matt Petry covers Amesbury and Salisbury for The Daily News of Newburyport. Email him at: mpetry@northofboston.com.