Sewage Disks - Still Everywhere Over Five Years later

Monday evening's take - along the Parker River, miles upstream from the ocean.

New Hampshire officials estimate that 8 million disks, which are used to clean potentially harmful bacteria from waste water, were released from a Hookset NH plant due to a malfunction after heavy rainstorms on March 6, 2011. Over 5 years later these can be foud as far north as Bar harbor, Maine and as far south as Chatham, Massachusetts, on Cape Cod.

The 2-inch plastic disks themselves are not harmful. They are stored in the waste water treatment plant’s tanks, and within the disks are “good’’ bacteria that breaks down the E. coli and other harmful bacteria found in the waste water. The disk system is new in New Hampshire, and Hooksett is the first community in the Granite State to use them.

According to the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services, the Hooksett plant held more than 39 million disks, and as many as 20 percent were released.

Supposedly Hooksett has assumed financial responsibility for the disks, and communities can bill the town directly for cleanup efforts.