The York Street Pump Station, Springfield Water and Sewer Commission's newest and largest pump, did what it was supposed to do in the region's most recent storm. As a result, the commission said, less wastewater spilled into the Connecticut River.
The pump's redesign gives it a capacity of almost double the York Street Station built in 1938, said Katie Shea, the commission's educational outreach manager.
This week the system pumped 42 million gallons over to the regional wastewater plant on Bondi's Island. Shea said that amount would have overwhelmed the old pump.
"Because of the increased pumping capacity, [the new pump system] will reduce the amount of discharges by about 100 million gallons per year, based on typical rainfall," Shea said.
It's progress, Shea said, but there's more infrastructure work to be done.
The York Street Pump Station and the Connecticut River Crossing Project was designed to address multiple issues, Shea said, including more intense rain due to climate change.
Three new pipes under the Connecticut River will add redundancy and improve reliability for customers in Springfield, Ludlow, East Longmeadow and Wilbraham.
The project is a culmination of years of planning, according to the commission, which adopted an wastewater plan in 2014 to meet federal regulations — specifically, the mandate to eliminate what are known as CSOs, or combined sewer overflows.
Chicopee and Holyoke are also in a multi-year process of replacing older wastewater treatment systems along the Connecticut River.
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