Today’s @BUMPatBU #MURBEX class took a trip over to Deer Island to learn about how Boston Harbor went from the “filthiest harbor in America” to one of the cleanest in roughly a decade.

Deer Island was a primary sewage treatment plant that pumped sludge straight into the harbor for almost 100 years (on top of the centuries before any sewage treatment facility was built at all). The harbor was disgusting, unsafe to swim in, and was a dead zone for decades.

A court order in 1985 called for Boston to invest $4b into building a new wastewater treatment plant. In this process, the Mass. Water Resources Authority was born, and after being completed on time and under budget, we now have the Deer Island facility we see today.

These characteristic 14 story tall egg shaped pods house microbes that break down and process 3 million gallons of sludge per day . The treated wastewater then is pumped 9.5 miles out into Massachusetts Bay, where the water quality is monitored constantly.

So, next time you enjoy Boston’s healthy harbor, you know you can thank Judge A. David Mazzone and the thousands of workers who fought hard to give “the people the right to a clean harbor”.