WOONSOCKET — Environmental regulators are extending an advisory to avoid contact with the Blackstone River as partially treated sewage continues to flow into the river from the Woonsocket treatment plant. 

The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management issued the advisory Sunday after the city alerted the agency that morning to the discharges. With the problem still unsolved, the DEM on Friday issued a reminder that it is still advising people not to wade, swim, boat or fish in the river, or to consume fish caught in its waters.  

The advisory covers a section of the river from the plant at Cumberland Hill Road in Woonsocket south to the Slater Mill Dam in Pawtucket. The area of concern also includes waters that receive flow from the Blackstone, including the Blackstone Canal and Scott Pond.  

The treatment plant, which treats between 6 million and 8 million gallons of wastewater daily, has been plagued by problems in recent months. The DEM issued notices of noncompliance in November 2021 and this past March because of ongoing operations and maintenance concerns. 

The facility is owned by the city, which contracts operations to the Texas-based engineering firm Jacobs. Neither Mayor Lisa Baldelli-Hunt nor Jacobs responded to inquiries from The Journal on Friday afternoon. 

DEM inspectors have been at the plant since Sunday to investigate possible equipment failures that may have caused the loss of full treatment.  

Agency personnel have also tested 20 sites downstream, from the Seekonk River along the Providence River to Conimicut Point in Warwick, for fecal coliform bacteria. The results so far have found no contamination in the Seekonk River and indicate that water quality around shellfish grounds in the lower Providence River and upper Narragansett Bay have not been affected.  

The only comparable problem in recent years with another municipal wastewater treatment plant in the state occurred in Warwick in 2018 when the collapse of sewer pipes led to the release of untreated wastewater. The release did not cause a no-contact advisory but it did result in a shellfish closure and the city was fined $27,500 for violations. 

DEM wastewater regulations treat no-contact advisories similarly to shellfish closures. Such violations also typically come with a financial penalty.  

The November noncompliance notice issued to the Woonsocket plant came after routine testing by the DEM found a series of violations between July and October. In its response, Jacobs listed a variety of causes, including high flows caused by rain, inoperable sand filters and a blockage in equipment. 

In a follow-up inspection, the DEM found a raft of additional problems with equipment and staffing. They included a lack of capacity to do routine microscopic analysis to measure the effectiveness of certain plant systems. 

“DEM subsequently learned that the facility has not had an operational microscope for some time,” a March 14 letter from the DEM to the city said.