davis_square: Is this illegal?

bobobb (

bobobb) wrote in

davis_square,
@ 2008-05-14 12:30:00

Entry tags:

legal

Is this illegal?
I was walking in the Davis Square area and saw a man from a industrial cleaning company dumping his cleaning waste down the street sewer from his van -- it was pretty stinky. I'm assuming this is illegal because when he saw me he packed up his truck and took off in a hurry. When I looked on the city's web page I couldn't find anything about illegal dumping, so maybe I'm wrong. I assumed that the street sewers go into the mystic river -- is this true? Please fill me in. I have his licence plate number so I'll report it if in fact it is illegal dumping -- but again who do you report this to?

(Post a new comment)

	ron_newman 2008-05-14 04:43 pm UTC (link)
	Please do report it, that's very illegal. (Reply to this)

	fanw 2008-05-14 04:43 pm UTC (link)
	I don't know, but I'd call 311 and find out who to report this to. Sounds pretty sketchy to me! (Reply to this)

	srakkt 2008-05-14 04:44 pm UTC (link)
	Call 311 and report it? Did you get the name of the company and maybe the number of the truck? If it's not illegal then it's hardly an issue, and the folks at 311 will know. if it is illegal, then you're getting it handled. (Reply to this)

	beezy515 2008-05-14 04:44 pm UTC (link)
	Yes, please report this. (Reply to this)

	bobobb 2008-05-14 04:51 pm UTC (link)
	Called it in -- apparently it is very illegal. Thanks for the help! PS The company was called Serv Pro -- maybe don't hire them if you need your house/business cleaned? (Reply to this)(Thread)

	jspazzer 2008-05-14 04:59 pm UTC (link)
	Appropriately, their slogan appears to be "Like it never even happened" http://www.servpro.com/ (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	ruthling 2008-05-14 04:56 pm UTC (link)
	Thank you for reporting this. Yes, storm sewers discharge, usually completely untreated, into a local waterbody. The Mystic has enough problems and doesn't need random guys throwing anything from soap to industrial waste down into it. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	_mattt 2008-05-15 03:25 am UTC (link)
	I'd be very surprised if it was what most people consider industrial waste. I'm not exonerating them, but I doubt they would be working with anything other than cleaning solutions and maybe some organic solvents. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	ron_newman 2008-05-14 04:57 pm UTC (link)
	And yes, anything dumped in a Somerville storm sewer is eventually going to end up in the Mystic River, or in Alewife Brook, which drains into the Mystic. It's bad enough when the stuff being dumped is just dogshit, but even worse if it's some industrial chemical. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	cityofbeige 2008-05-14 06:11 pm UTC (link)
	Just about every storm drain I've seen in Somerville has a plaque over it saying that it drains directly to the Charles or Mystic River. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	spaz_i_mota 2008-05-14 05:01 pm UTC (link)
	ServPro is a huge company. I'm not sure why that makes it more disturbing to me, but it does. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	m00n 2008-05-14 06:34 pm UTC (link)
	Because it means this is probably company policy all over the place, rather than just an isolated incident. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	islandofzilan 2008-05-14 05:29 pm UTC (link)
	how do you know what was being dumped was an industrial solvent? There are alot of natural solvents that can smell pretty bad too... (Reply to this)(Thread)

	ron_newman 2008-05-14 05:33 pm UTC (link)
	Then they probably shouldn't be dumped into the storm sewer either. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	srakkt 2008-05-14 05:39 pm UTC (link)
	At no point did the OP assert that what was being dumped was an industrial solvent, and regardless of this fact, dumping into stormdrains is illegal, even if it's sugar and spice and everything nice. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	firepail 2008-05-14 05:32 pm UTC (link)
	Even more disturbing, if this person was doing this blatantly in broad daylight--they have probably done it before. (Reply to this)

	spaz_i_mota 2008-05-14 06:54 pm UTC (link)
	probably a coincidence..but the storm drains around day/orchard are giving off an exceptional STINK lately. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	srakkt 2008-05-14 07:01 pm UTC (link)
	That was me. I'm sorry... I couldn't hold it any longer. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	_mattt 2008-05-15 03:21 am UTC (link)
	What kind of smell was it? Was it a rotten egg type smell? Or a chemical solvent type smell? (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	Re: i heart stormwater srakkt 2008-05-14 08:33 pm UTC (link)
	Interestingly, raw sewage getting diluted by bodies of other water is a useful (if slow) way to treat it because the harmful stuff doesn't survive well outside a digestive tract unless it's in a nice dense clump of poo, though ideally it shouldn't be done in waterways. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	Re: i heart stormwater bobobb 2008-05-14 09:09 pm UTC (link)
	well, if I'm not studying for my quals at least I'm making myself useful ;) Keen detective here.... (Reply to this)(Parent)

	ryanwanger 2008-05-14 10:05 pm UTC (link)
	Like it was mentioned, this is a big company, but if you google "servpro dumping" you get this: http://www.dep.state.fl.us/secretary/news/2005/01/0114_01.htm And #2 is this thread. Ooops! Google is amazing. (Reply to this)(Thread)

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