Press Releases

LOWELL, MA – Today, Congresswoman Lori Trahan (MA-03), joined by Lowell Mayor Sokhary Chau, leaders of the Merrimack River Watershed Council (MRWC), and community leaders, highlighted $352,000 in federal funding she secured for MRWC’s cleanup efforts along the Merrimack River.

“We have an obligation to do everything in our power to stop pollution into the Merrimack River, which is woven into the fabric of every community in our region. Not only is it a valuable recreational and cultural asset, but it’s also a vital drinking water source that hundreds of thousands of us depend on,” said Congresswoman Trahan. “That’s why, as Congress debated the most recent funding package, securing this federal investment to help clean up our river was so important to me. Merrimack River Watershed Council is doing incredible work, and I’m proud to support their efforts with this funding.”

"To truly address the issues of water contamination in the Merrimack River, it is critical that financial investment be connected meaningfully to local progress and actors – and Congresswoman Trahan has always been shoulder to shoulder with us here on all Merrimack River issues,” said Merrimack River Watershed Council Executive Director Matthew Thorne. “These investments in local progress have to be targeted to address a context of a world built with significant racial and economic inequities, and environmental injustices. Moreover, it has to be grounded in the fact that the climate is rapidly shifting – which has a significant effect on water quality since all our systems were not built to handle the type of rainstorms we get these days- and we have to rebuild our country with green, climate-forward infrastructure to restore our natural resources sustainably.”

The Merrimack River serves a number of critical purposes for communities like Lowell, Methuen, and Lawrence. In addition to being a cultural and recreational asset for residents, the river serves as a key public drinking water source. However, pollution has long been an issue, and not just from combined sewage overflows. Unlike wastewater, which flows to a wastewater treatment plant, stormwater generally flows into waterways without any treatment and often with little attention. Bacteria, oil and gas leaks, heavy metals, nutrients, and emerging contaminants such as PFAS are pressing concerns that are entering drinking and recreational waters including the Merrimack River on a daily basis.

The funding highlighted during today’s event was specifically requested by Trahan in the recently passed government funding package and will be used to employ water quality monitoring, technical watershed modeling, and green stormwater infrastructure design in Lowell, Methuen, and Lawrence. Specifically, the federal investment will support one year of bacteria and nutrient hot spot investigations, four Environmental Protection Agency watershed-based plans, and the designing of appropriate green infrastructure to remediate relevant impairments of bacteria and nutrient pollution in the Merrimack and Spicket Rivers.

During the event, Trahan was joined by Mayor Sokhary Chau, who described the City’s efforts to clean up the Merrimack River, and Kevin Soleil, UMass Lowell’s Boathouse Director and Assistant Director of Outdoor Programs.

“In gateway communities like Lowell and beyond, the Merrimack River’s continued vitality is imperative and a necessity,” said Lowell Mayor Sokhary Chau. “It serves not only as a sole source of public drinking water, but the Merrimack River is an incredible cultural, recreational, and commercial resource that supports swimming, boating, fishing, and many other activities, increasing the quality of life in Lowell’s diverse communities. I want to thank Congresswoman Lori Trahan for her advocacy and leadership on this important issue – to address combined sewer overflows as well as testing of the water, and supporting the Merrimack River Watershed Council in their great work.”

“I want to thank Congresswoman Trahan, leaders in the Watershed Council and the City of Lowell for their continued work toward making the Merrimack a better resource for the people, plants and animals of the region,” said UMass Lowell Assistant Director of Outdoor & Bicycle Programs Kevin Soleil. “This funding will help get more people involved in volunteer efforts, data collection, and distribution, and it will ultimately improve all aspects of the resource. It has come a long way, and it certainly still has a long way to go. We look forward to continuing to help make progress.”

During her three years in Congress, Trahan has consistently advocated for federal investments necessary to clean up the Merrimack River. Most recently, she testified before the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee in March requesting $100 million in federal funding to help address combined sewage overflows (CSOs) in Lowell, Lawrence, Methuen, Haverhill, and Fitchburg. When she took office in 2019, the federal allocation for the EPA’s Sewer Overflow and Stormwater Reuse Municipal Grant Program sat at $0.

Most recently, she supported passage of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which allocated $55 billion to upgrade community water systems and replace lead service lines across the nation. Of that funding, Massachusetts is starting to receive its portion of at least $1.1 billion headed to the state over the next half-decade to improve community water infrastructure.

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