Next New England

From Lake Champlain to the Connecticut River, overtaxed sewage systems are being pushed to filter out more pollutants. This week, we look into what it takes to clean up our water systems. We also revisit Boston’s aborted Olympic bid in search of lessons about urban planning and civic engagement. We follow the journey of an aluminum can, and meet a DIY Youtube star from the woods of Maine. The mouth of the Connecticut River. The Amtrak Old Saybrook-Old Lyme bridge is the last crossing before the river meets Long Island Sound. Nitrogen runoff from soil upriver is responsible for fish die-off in the salt waters of the sound. Photo by Ryan Caron King for NENC Influent and Effluent Springfield Water and Sewer Plant Manager Mickey Nowak gives a quick biology lesson, explaining how bacteria found in sewage is currently denitrified at the plant. Photo by Jill Kaufman for NENC By the end of the year, the Environmental Protection Agency is expected to announce new limits on the amount of nitrogen that wastewater