4/29/22
MAWEA’s Mickey Nowak Advocates for Regional Solids Planning and Solutions

Mickey Nowak, a long-time clean water professional and current Executive Director of the Massachusetts Water Environment Association (MAWEA), is on a mission to warn everyone about what he calls a “potential environmental and economic disaster that is visible on the horizon.”  He refers to the dwindling options for managing wastewater solids and septage in the Northeast.  Mickey makes some excellent points in recent Op-Ed pieces published in VT Digger https://vtdigger.org/2022/04/06/mickey-nowak-sewer-plants-running-out-of-places-to-put-biosolids/ and a local Western Massachusetts paper, the Greenfield Recorder.  The Recorder - My Turn: The growing problem of managing biosolids

Mickey is passionate about finding viable solids management solutions for Water Resource Recovery Facilities (WRRFs). Each February, WRRFs enter their annual biosolids reports into EPA’s ECHO (Enforcement and Compliance History Online) database. Mickey looked at the ECHO reports to better understand Massachusetts residuals disposal and end-uses. Based on his knowledge of Massachusetts’ WRRFs, the database seemed to have a lot of flawed data. So, Mickey rolled up his sleeves, checked each Massachusetts WRRF entry, and contacted superintendents with potential data quality issues. He corrected and compiled his own biosolids reports for Massachusetts, finding that about 70% of the solids generated in Massachusetts end up out of state for disposal or end-use.

Mickey also led the charge to meet with the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection about the approaching “disaster”.  That meeting took place in early March with numerous stakeholders representing all aspects of the business of biosolids management – from WRRFs to management companies and landfills.  NEBRA was happy to participate and provide support (check out these slides prepared for the discussion).  The talks with MassDEP were productive and positive, with everyone agreeing they should occur more regularly.  Mickey set the tone of the meeting so the atmosphere was collaborative and congenial.  There were even a few jokes about how Massachusetts had recently ranked #1 on the list of “most educated” states in the U.S. and should be able to figure out how to manage their own you-know-what.

NEBRAMail has learned that Mickey Nowak plans to retire this year.  Although well deserved, MAWEA and NEBRA will really miss his advocacy and tireless efforts. Thankfully, he is teeing up problems and suggesting potential solutions for the next generation of advocates to advance. We look forward to working with the new MAWEA leader, but those will be big shoes to fill!