Boston's Black Falcon Cruise Terminal

[sail7seas]

For those who sail out of Boston on HAL ships (all cruise ships), we board at Black Falcon Cruise Terminal.

 

In this off season, fear not the terminal is still put to good use.

 

It is a snow farm!!! :) It is one of the places City of Boston trucks piles of snow from the city streets and it sits in large mounds until it all melts before the ships return in the spring. :)

 

I much prefer visualizing that area with a cruise ship than a mountain of snow.

If you are sailing from Boston this year, imagine what that area looked like right now in the middle of winter.

Edited February 2, 2015 by sail7seas

[grand isle joe]

In Boston they previously dumped the snow right into the harbor. Then the EPA stepped in and put a halt.....for pollution. I guess if the snow melts the drains into the harbor now that's better:rolleyes:......

[sail7seas]

In Boston they previously dumped the snow right into the harbor. Then the EPA stepped in and put a halt.....for pollution. I guess if the snow melts the drains into the harbor now that's better:rolleyes:......

 

:D Yes, that is the impression I have of the reason for the 'snow farm'.

 

 

[FlyerTalker]

In Boston they previously dumped the snow right into the harbor. Then the EPA stepped in and put a halt.....for pollution. I guess if the snow melts the drains into the harbor now that's better:rolleyes:......

Having it melt is the "natural" process....and it's one more example of a bureaucracy getting in the way of efficiency. I'm just waiting for the Corps of Engineers to declare some of the melt puddles as "wetlands".

[chengkp75]

While I don't quite agree with the "don't let it melt into the ocean" method (we tend to truck it to stone quarries up here), I do know that the reason cited for not letting it melt directly into the ocean is not "pollution" as we generally think of it, but that the melting snow changes the salinity of the coastal water, affecting the marine life that spawns in the shallows. Apparently, while normal snow melt would be fine, the fact that we pile large quantities at the shore changes the equation, and the melt water should be allowed to percolate into the soil (no soil in the city!) before entering the ocean.

 

That's the science, now we use diesel fuel to truck it away from the shore, so which "pollution" is worse?

[chengkp75]

Now, as for piling it up at the cruise terminal right along the shore, air is a poorer conductor of heat than water (by a factor of 6), so the snow will melt slower (add in the fact that most of the snow is not on the surface of the pile), than if it is dumped in the water, so the salinity is affected to a lesser extent over a greater period.

 

However, we have to look at the dirty pile of snow longer!

[Nitemare]

another factor is that the snow that is removed from the streets contains all the crap that is on the streets: Oil, trash, salt (melter), sand, etc. Dumping all that in the ocean is straight out pollution.

 

Letting it melt keeps most of the solids on land.

[Slammerswife]

another factor is that the snow that is removed from the streets contains all the crap that is on the streets: Oil, trash, salt (melter), sand, etc. Dumping all that in the ocean is straight out pollution.

 

Letting it melt keeps most of the solids on land.

 

Wonder how many "solids" were alive at some point. Heard a couple incidents this year:eek:

Im leaving in May and hope they have some seasoned vets for boarding!:D

[Bankshot]

I don't think marine life is too concerned with spawning in this frigid water.

[sail7seas]

EPA seems to have issued an 'exception' due to the extreme circumstances we in Boston are experiencing this winter. I think they are permitting snow dumping into the ocean as there is absolutely no place left to put all the city's snow.

[lannp]

With all the snow Boston has received they probably need every spare place they can find to dump that snow.

Around here our piles are getting pretty high.

[sail7seas]

Boston has many narrow streets and they have to clear them adequately to get emergency vehicles through. If it means dumping snow in the ocean, so be it. If there is a fire, the apparatus has to be able to reach the location.

[Slammerswife]

I heard them on the news call them snow melting farms. So yeah...it does melt when it hits the ocean i guess lol.

[navybankerteacher]

Of course, people are kidding themselves about avoiding pollution. Where do they think snow melt goes when it melts on its own rather than be dumped in the harbor? Yes, there could be a temporary effect on salinity levels with snow melt or dumping, but given the flushing effect of tides, there would seem to be little real difference between dumping and waiting.

[sail7seas]

In the past and early in the winter, Black Falcon was used as a snow melting farm. When the snow became so deep and the city literally ran out of where to put it that approval was given, as an exception, to dump it in the ocean. I doubt this will become a usual and regular practice.

[chengkp75]

I heard them on the news call them snow melting farms. So yeah...it does melt when it hits the ocean i guess lol.

 

Actually, the "snow melting farms" are using gas fired melting machines that can melt 350 tons an hour. They pile up the snow, then feed it into the snow melters, which drain into the storm drains.

[Slammerswife]

https://www.bostonherald.com/news_opinion/local_coverage/2015/02/bay_state_gets_170_snow_removal_machines_on_loan_from_other

So they let it go in the storm drains?

[chengkp75]

https://www.bostonherald.com/news_opinion/local_coverage/2015/02/bay_state_gets_170_snow_removal_machines_on_loan_from_other

So they let it go in the storm drains?

 

That's what I've seen.

[sail7seas]

That's what I've seen.

 

NY actually loaned (or rented) some of those machines to Boston during this extreme circumstance.

 

Where does the melted water that goes into storm drains empty?

The ocean or perhaps water treatment plants?

Town of Marblehead, MA (some will argue is the birthplace of the U.S. Navy though Beverly, MA disagrees :) ) on the north shore of Boston is dumping into the ocean. Some of their streets are so narrow it is impossible for them to not actually remove it from the streets.

 

Edited February 16, 2015 by sail7seas

[chengkp75]

NY actually loaned (or rented) some of those machines to Boston during this extreme circumstance.

 

Where does the melted water that goes into storm drains empty?

The ocean or perhaps water processing plants?

Town of Marblehead, MA on the north shore of Boston is dumping into the ocean. Some of their streets are so narrow it is impossible for them to not actually remove it from the streets.

 

 

Some storm drains drain directly into the ocean (typically marked with a fish logo). Most go to a waste water treatment plant, but if there is too much inflow (sewage plus storm water), most municipal plants just overflow to the ocean. When I read that they had 150+ of these melters in Boston, I couldn't believe it. Maine has sent National Guard engineers to assist with snow removal.

 

We were supposed to get another 12-18" today, but only received 3", though far southern Maine (Kittery to Kennebunkport) did get that much. I hear that the South Shore down to the Cape got over a foot last night/today.

[navybankerteacher]

In southern Connecticut over the past 24 hours we got less than one of the six to twelve inches predicted. We are down to 6 degrees now - heading to zero or below.. But I cannot complain when people in Boston are getting so badly hammered.

 

I do wonder, however, if the Boston storm drains actually do channel snow melt, rain run-off, etc. to treatment plants. I do not know of any area where sanitary sewer treatment systems are so burdened with such unpredictable amounts of volume --- it would risk letting semi-treated waste water simply overflow the treatment facilities.

[chengkp75]

In southern Connecticut over the past 24 hours we got less than one of the six to twelve inches predicted. We are down to 6 degrees now - heading to zero or below.. But I cannot complain when people in Boston are getting so badly hammered.

 

I do wonder, however, if the Boston storm drains actually do channel snow melt, rain run-off, etc. to treatment plants. I do not know of any area where sanitary sewer treatment systems are so burdened with such unpredictable amounts of volume --- it would risk letting semi-treated waste water simply overflow the treatment facilities.

 

Virtually all municipal systems that I know of blend the sanitary discharge from homes/businesses with storm water. The street drains outside your house is in the same sewer main as your house's drain. This is why some houses experience backflooding to basement drains when heavy rains happen. As I've said, we have coastal area storm drains that are marked "direct to the bay" and with a fish to keep folks from pouring things down them that could harm the ocean.

[navybankerteacher]

Virtually all municipal systems that I know of blend the sanitary discharge from homes/businesses with storm water. The street drains outside your house is in the same sewer main as your house's drain. This is why some houses experience backflooding to basement drains when heavy rains happen. As I've said, we have coastal area storm drains that are marked "direct to the bay" and with a fish to keep folks from pouring things down them that could harm the ocean.

 

I am not familiar with the drainage systems where you live, but every system with which I am familiar is actually dual: the storm drains which collect rain run-off, snow melt etc. and the sanitary system which treats waste which IX generally referred to as sewage. Most sewage treatment plants do not have anywhere near the capacity to (needlessly) treat rainwater and snow melt.

 

In fact, the system you describe seems to have three sub-systems: regular sewage, the storm drains which presumably feed into the sewage treatment plant, and then the storm drains whis do flow " direct to the bay".

 

In our coastal towns, municipal beaches are often posted as unfit for swimming after heavy rains because of the (non-sewage) runoff which flows into Long Island Sound from the storm drain system - which does carry miscellaneous pollutants - totally distinct from the sanitary sewage system.

[sail7seas]

Some storm drains drain directly into the ocean (typically marked with a fish logo). Most go to a waste water treatment plant, but if there is too much inflow (sewage plus storm water), most municipal plants just overflow to the ocean. When I read that they had 150+ of these melters in Boston, I couldn't believe it. Maine has sent National Guard engineers to assist with snow removal.

 

We were supposed to get another 12-18" today, but only received 3", though far southern Maine (Kittery to Kennebunkport) did get that much. I hear that the South Shore down to the Cape got over a foot last night/today.

 

Thanks for the explanation. :) Appreciate it.

 

I have an 8' fence around most of my back yard. I cannot see the top of it in many areas. :eek: The wind is howling outside right now and blowing the newly fallen snow over all the areas just plowed and shoveled. :(

 

 

Edited February 16, 2015 by sail7seas

[navybankerteacher]

Thanks for the explanation. :) Appreciate it.

 

I have an 8' fence around most of my back yard. I cannot see the top of it in many areas. :eek: The wind is howling outside right now and blowing the newly fallen snow over all the areas just plowed and shoveled. :(

 

 

 

This is a tough winter- here we just have a foot or so on the ground- and just got a dusting last night. It's just one degree outside, but I can't complain when I hear reports from coastal Mass.

 

Hopefully the thaw, when it does come, is gradual, and not as a sudden, flood-inducing warm rain.