In the News

Congresswoman Lori Trahan and Congressman Seth Moulton this morning appealed to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to help pay for Haverhill’s recent forced main sewer collapse.

Trahan and Moulton this morning asked EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin in a letter for additional federal support in response to the ongoing Haverhill wastewater emergency.

“As communities across the Commonwealth continue recovering from the recent sewer main failure in Haverhill, it is increasingly clear that local governments, even those acting responsibly and proactively, cannot shoulder the costs of long-term infrastructure modernization without stronger, more reliable federal partnership,” they wrote.

The federal legislators noted the city’s 2016 consent decree requires substantial upgrades to its sewer system and treatment plant. They point out “the city has acted in good faith, investing heavily in planning, engineering and permitting to overhaul a decades-old system and reduce the risk of pollution and public health crises.”

However, Trahan and Moulton said, “the lack of sustained federal investment has left the infrastructure still vulnerable to incidents like this.” They explained, “Emergency repairs alone require significant resources, while permanent replacement of aging mains, expanding treatment capacity and completing sewer separation require tens of millions of dollars. Small cities like Haverhill simply do not have the financial capacity to absorb these costs. They instead are forced to rely on a patchwork of limited federal dollars, state loans and strained local budgets to advance projects that are essential for long-term public health and economic development.”

In their letter, the lawmakers requested the EPA work with Congress to find federal money for communities replacing aging water infrastructure, including the establishment of rapid-response dollars for emergencies like the one in Haverhill and the restoration of robust grants for combined sewer upgrades.

They warned that the administration’s budget request for the year starting Oct. 1 would cut federal water infrastructure money by roughly 90%, slashing the Clean Water State Revolving Fund from approximately $2.5 billion to just $155 million.

“Underfunding these programs forces communities to defer essential repairs, leaving systems vulnerable to catastrophic public health failures like the one Haverhill just experienced,” the lawmakers concluded. “We urge you to work with our offices to identify long-term federal funding streams to ensure cities like Haverhill are not continually overburdened by the growing costs to replace aging water infrastructure.”

As WHAV reported initially, most of Haverhill’s sewage began flowing into the Merrimack River after an about 50-year-old, 42-inch, concrete main collapsed following torrential rains late at night, June 26. Ahead of expectations, and at a cost of about $2.5 million, the city built the first of two, 24-inch bypass mains by Wednesday, July 1, ending the discharge of untreated sewage.

Gov. Maura Healey and top state officials called attention to high cost of infrastructure,

“Aging water infrastructure is under increasing stress from more frequent extreme weather. I’m asking for assistance with federal funding for the infrastructure that we need along the Merrimack River,” she said.

The Merrimack River Watershed Council said this morning, “bacteria levels in the Merrimack River downstream of the repair appear to be back within normal ranges.” The organization noted tests last Friday and Saturday still showed elevated readings three to four times the safety limit at the West Newbury test site that were likely attributable to the Haverhill break as that site was the slowest to flush out. Elevated results in Newburyport Harbor were called “more likely a repeat of elevated mid-summer readings documented in 2025 and not a lingering impact of the recent Haverhill sewer break.

In their letter, the lawmakers cited Haverhill’s aging combined sewer system, which collects both sewage and stormwater runoff into the same network of pipes. During significant precipitation, these systems can become overwhelmed and lead to combined sewer overflows into nearby bodies of water. Haverhill, like many communities along the Merrimack River, has been working for years to complete expensive sewer system upgrades with little to no federal investment.

Trahan and Moulton said they have also worked to increase money for the EPA’s Sewer Overflow and Stormwater Reuse Municipal Grant program, but growth has stagnated in recent years. Trahan also introduced the bipartisan Stop Sewage Overflow Act to expand and improve the program.

Trahan and Moulton said they have also worked to increase money for the EPA’s Sewer Overflow and Stormwater Reuse Municipal Grant program, but growth has stagnated in recent years. Trahan also introduced the bipartisan Stop Sewage Overflow Act to expand and improve the program.