Updated at 5:28 p.m.
Dave Hungerford is sick of this shit.
After Burlington’s wastewater treatment plant recently overflowed several times into Lake Champlain, Hungerford decided to take matters into his own hands. On Thursday morning, he stood in the rain on Williston Road in South Burlington holding a sign that read: “Burlington, Stop Dumping Shit Into Our Lake.”
“It was one thing I could do,” said Hungerford, 59. “It’s better than putting an angry emoji face on Facebook. [The spills have] been an ongoing problem for many years.”
Hungerford lives in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., but grew up in St. Albans and has a family cottage on the lake there. Thursday’s one-man protest was Hungerford’s third since he decided to take action about a month ago. Wearing a yellow rain slicker, he noted that the weather likely meant the city plant had spewed more wastewater into the lake.
He was right: More than 15,000 gallons overflowed into the Intervale wetlands Wednesday night, according to data the Queen City provided to the state. And nearly 66,000 gallons more flowed into the Pine Street Barge Canal, the city revealed in a press release later Thursday. About 90 percent of the release was stormwater, the city said, “with a small wastewater fraction.”
In response, city officials posted signs at Blanchard Beach in Oakledge Park and at the beach near the former Blodgett property warning swimmers of the potential for increased bacteria levels in the lake. The city said it would release water sample results on Friday.
The latest overflow came two weeks after the city dumped 3 million gallons of partially treated wastewater into the lake during a storm. All told, Burlington has dumped more than 11 million gallons in 2018.
“As progressive of a state Vermont is, and as progressive a city as Burlington is, with a world-class university right behind us, there’s got to be an alternative to get the sewage under control rather than dump millions of gallons of untreated sewage directly into Lake Champlain,” Hungerford lamented.
Cars honked as he stood steadfastly in the drizzle. “Good job, man,” a guy on a bicycle offered as he pedaled by.
“This is a good location because there’s plenty of traffic here — and it’s headed into Burlington,” said Hungerford.
The poster’s profanity, Hungerford said, served a specific purpose. The four-letter word is something a “fourth grader could look at and immediately understand what it means,” rather than euphemisms officials use such as “partially treated wastewater” or “fecal matter,” he said.
“I’m sensitive to the word,” said Hungerford, “but it works.”
It’s not just Burlington that’s had poop problems. State data show that nearly 300,000 gallons of dirty water flowed into Stevens Brook in St. Albans City on Wednesday morning. That same day, Rutland dumped 679,000 gallons into East Creek — two days after it discharged 9.7 million gallons into nearby waterways.
Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger has vowed action in the Queen City. After the city’s July 10 multimillion-gallon overflow, he ordered Department of Public Works director Chapin Spencer to “immediately devote every available resource” to finding the cause of a mechanical problem that led to the leak and to fix it. Weinberger also promised to complete “capital upgrade planning” by December 1 so city residents can vote on Town Meeting Day in March 2019 on paying for improvements.
“These unintended, avoidable releases are completely unacceptable to to Burlingtonians, to Vermonters, and to me,” Weinberger said in the July 11 statement. “The City’s Department of Public Works has a core responsibility to properly treat our sewage and stormwater and fully protect the lake.”
Hungerford agreed.
“It affects the biggest population center in this state,” he said. “This part of the lake is absolutely gorgeous, and it’s directly involved in dumping the sewage.”
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Burlington is small time compared to Rutland dumped (a new record) 9 million gallons for THEIR raw sewage into Otter Creek and Lake Champlain Tuesday … alerting nobody down stream as they did it. Start with Rutland, then Brandon, then Vergennes – by far the worst polluters per capita of Lake Champlain basin. Shameful
This situation will not get any better as Miro and his Money Buddies at the Chamber of Commerce plan to stuff more and more people into Burlington and the surrounding area. There is nothing “Progressive” or “vibrant” about these constant sewage dumps. It is just more examples of the failed Neo-liberal/Capitalist system that is now eating itself, starting with the poorest among us.
The Capitalist/Neo-Liberal lie: Infinite growth on a finite planet.
With over 34 million gallons dumped this year, it is completely unacceptable.
Can’t agree more with this man.
#DontPoopTheLake
Don’t hold your breath waiting for Weinberger to do anything, don’t hold your breath for the legislators to do anything nor the Governor or Leahy, Sanders or Welch to do anything either, they are too busy running around the country campaigning for other democrats and getting paid for it… They don’t care what happens to Vermont waterways !!!
Mr Hungerford seems to be the only one who cares. Thanks, sir for standing up to make a stand..
It’s all over,look what just happened in Portland Maine
Keeping up with Shelburne’s “Where the affluent meet s the effluent…..” campaign. Insufficient fines are championing this effort
James Ehlers has long advocated for the lake. Perhaps if he wins the democratic primary for governor we will see some real change and an administrator who will bring the cities who are responsible to task. The primaries are August 14, but you can do early voting at your town clerk or via absentee ballot tomorrow. He certainly has a proven track record.
Sadly, these spills are not the biggest problem. The biggest offenders are dairy farms and the tons of cow shit they send into the watershed.
One candidate for VT governor has been carrying this message for years. Vote for James Ehlers, a person who sees that a clean lake brings us all more wealth, happiness, and safety.
Just like all the other protesters out there. Nothing better to do. Get a job!
What disturbs me the most is the failure due to what I interpret to be disinterest/apathy, of Burlington’s elected officials to take any action. Not even a worthless resolution to “do something” in the days ahead. Instead, widening the bikepath (felling hundreds of trees in the process), installing bike lanes ad nauseum, putting workout stations on the bikepath, the recent survey about Memorial Auditorium, enabling drug addicts to stay addcited with free needles and safe injection sites, allowing one person to play the racist card leading to the removal of the iconic marketplace mural, spending millions to change City Hall Park, and let’s not forget the administration’s cozy relationship with developer Eric Farrell. The waste of taxpayer time, money and resources has resulted in enough disgust that I no longer want to live in Burlington or Vermont. The only ballot items Burlington voters see are those that are laser focused on bonding yet more debt. How about a November ballot item asking if there should be a moratorium on building in Vermont until the current and now longstanding sub-standard wastewater treatment infrastructure is upgraded to accomodate all building permits approved over the past 10 years (or more)?
What people fail to understand is just how clean water is tied into the economic well-being of Vermont. For years we built a brand based upon environmentalism, clean, green, and sustainable. However, we now rest on our dead laurels, and are blind to the fact that Vermont with dirty lakes, rivers and streams will no longer attract the tourist…and will pave the way for those rich enough to leave Vermont. I am voting James Ehlers for Governor, because he is the ONLY candidate who has a long track record of not only understanding the problem but also doing something about it. Can we afford to let Vermont slowly circle down the drain? Ehlers understands that Vermont’s entire economic welfare is tied to clean water. Without it, we will degrade into some backwoods dump that everyone bypasses on their way to someplace better. Vermont has only two things going for it – her people and her environment, and we are drastically losing both. When will people realize that a polluted Vermont is not Vermont at all. Its high time we elect a Governor, who will fix these problems. We cant grow on an antiquated wastewater systems. Elect Ehlers for Governor and make Vermont Clean and Green again.
It’s great that he’s holding a sign and letting drive-byes know how he feels. But honestly, what is that going to accomplish? If I were to drive by and see this guy…I’d tend to agree with him, but it’s not like he’s bringing new knowledge that’s actually going to help anything. Do this in front of the Burlington Water company. Maybe stand in their front door and hold this sign.
Miro won’t do anything about it. He like the typical politicians, says what people want to hear and forgets about it. All he is interested in is his stupid projects which are a waste of money!
Miro won’t do anything about it. He is only interested in his own stupid projects which are a waste of money.
Vote for james elhers! He’s on the forefront in water quality. He will work hard for the people and help guide us towards a healthy watershed.
Would be great if the herein noted James Ehlers actullay detailed how he would a) force Rutland, Brandon and Vergennes to fix their constant sewage overflows; and b) how he thinks those towns will obtain funding. The question had been posed to him in the past, and…silence. We are talking $100mm+ for Rutland alone. These 3 towns will continue to dump their residents waste into Otter Creek/Lake Champlain for years to come. Lake Champlain is doomed
Not to worry… you know Russ Scully… the guy who just spent a bunch of dough on the Blodgett oven property?… currently has some sort of exclusive private, pay for access beach club going on there now?… will probably build residential units up around it eventually?… he’s a big $$ donor to the mayor… there will be movement on this (excuse the pun)… poop water no bueno for high end lake enthusiasts… so the residents of Burlington will be swayed to pony up for all the development Miro is handing out to his buddies… increased pressure on the system creates the necessity to build up the system to allow for more development… he wants a “vibrant” little city?… you get to pay for it…
“Miro won’t do anything about it. He like the typical politicians, says what people want to hear and forgets about it. All he is interested in is his stupid projects which are a waste of money!.”
Oh, GI Gripe, you’re so negative!
Hey I got an idea let’s complain about something that completely out of our hands unless the taxpayers put forth effort to fix a problem that will cost millions lol Facebook won’t solve anything if you think It will you’re part of the problem
Burlington now seeking to raise taxes to cover $70mm to upgrade and update the now functioning high school, but of course not considering putting the $70mm towards fixing the constant sewage dumping into public waters. Yup, priorities straight here. Certainly not out of Burlingtons control – but it will take law suits to get these polluting cities and towns to stop. Clearly Burlington does not care about the VT/NY/Canadian public water and environment
Instead of a ballot item, how about Russ Scully, Don Sinex, and Eric Farrell pay for these much needed upgrades, 1/3 each?
The time to negotiate having big developers pay is BEFORE the deal is done. Farrell should have been required to install a state-of-the-art mound septic system instead of tying into the city’s wastewater system.
“Instead of a ballot item, how about Russ Scully, Don Sinex, and Eric Farrell pay for these much needed upgrades, 1/3 each?.”
These people already pay all kinds of taxes and fees. Do you pay any?
lake Champlain has approx. 6.8 TRILLION gallons of water. the water that came from the treatment plant was not raw sewage but partially treated. This is not uncommon for any community in Vermont who has a treatment plant that there are over flows and have been for years. Until the 1950’s there was no treatment plant and yet the lake was not polluted in the same manner. Science has proven the pollution in the lake is from chemicals like fertilizer, not human waste. The lake is a constant ebb and flow of moving waters. People worry about poop in the lake but can’t find a turd in the sand anywhere, so educate yourselves on the real problem of the lake. As with any aging structure there will come a time for a major overhaul, it’s just a question of when.
I loved the “what about the cows!” comment. So typical of the Burlington progressive mindset. This time though its pretty difficult to blame rural hillbillies for your failed plans. Its Burlington’s waste, no one else’s. Fix it, and don’t expect the rest of the state to pay for it.