Thanks for reporting on this - something I’ve been trying to raise awareness about for a lot of years - but I would like a clarification: When you write “The July 2023 floods …Hardwick’s facility was inundated five feet above the first floor… Ludlow’s plant was rendered inoperable for weeks, and a year later much of the damage at the facility remained unresolved.” We jump from 2023 to the present tense. When was Ludlow flooded?
Jay — thanks for the careful read and the fair catch. Both Hardwick and Ludlow were flooded in the same event, the July 2023 floods.
The "year later" phrase referred to July 2024, when researchers from the Natural Hazards Center documented that damage at the Ludlow Wastewater Treatment Facility was still unresolved one year after the flood.
The sentence didn't make that timeline as clear as it should have, so we have gone in and clarified it in the piece.
Appreciate you flagging it — and thanks for the years you've spent trying to raise awareness about this. Vermont's wastewater infrastructure deserves more attention than it gets.
After 30 years addressing CSOs and P in the Legislature, I congratulate you on an accurate report on the history of nutrient loading and pollution in our Lake and Great River. I will just add that legislators know that the fixes for the problems are expensive but keep trying their best to reduce the pollution.
Hearing that from someone who worked these issues for 30 years inside the Statehouse means a great deal.
You're right that the fixes are expensive, and the piece probably could have been more explicit that the legislators wrestling with this aren't ducking it — they're working within real fiscal constraints on a problem that has no cheap solution.
That's a fair addition to the record. Appreciate you reading and weighing in.
Thanks for reporting on this - something I’ve been trying to raise awareness about for a lot of years - but I would like a clarification: When you write “The July 2023 floods …Hardwick’s facility was inundated five feet above the first floor… Ludlow’s plant was rendered inoperable for weeks, and a year later much of the damage at the facility remained unresolved.” We jump from 2023 to the present tense. When was Ludlow flooded?
Jay — thanks for the careful read and the fair catch. Both Hardwick and Ludlow were flooded in the same event, the July 2023 floods.
The "year later" phrase referred to July 2024, when researchers from the Natural Hazards Center documented that damage at the Ludlow Wastewater Treatment Facility was still unresolved one year after the flood.
The sentence didn't make that timeline as clear as it should have, so we have gone in and clarified it in the piece.
Appreciate you flagging it — and thanks for the years you've spent trying to raise awareness about this. Vermont's wastewater infrastructure deserves more attention than it gets.
Tom Davis, Compass Publisher
After 30 years addressing CSOs and P in the Legislature, I congratulate you on an accurate report on the history of nutrient loading and pollution in our Lake and Great River. I will just add that legislators know that the fixes for the problems are expensive but keep trying their best to reduce the pollution.
Deeno — thank you.
Hearing that from someone who worked these issues for 30 years inside the Statehouse means a great deal.
You're right that the fixes are expensive, and the piece probably could have been more explicit that the legislators wrestling with this aren't ducking it — they're working within real fiscal constraints on a problem that has no cheap solution.
That's a fair addition to the record. Appreciate you reading and weighing in.
Tom Davis - Compass
Thank you for this plain explanation of sewage overflows. This nuanced piece of the pollution puzzle needs to be understood by more Vermonters.