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ABOVE: A plastic water bottle rests by the recently cut brush along the North Canal in Lawrence. RIGHT: A metal pole, base and sign along the edge of the canal.
Debris collects along the North Canal.
A metal ring — possibly once used to block off an old pipe — on the edge of the North Canal.
The banks of the North Canal are typically used as a refuse bin. There are no trash barrels along the canal.
A plastic orange traffic barrel is submerged under water along with other debris in the North Canal.
A metal pole, base and sign along the edge of the canal.
A fish — approximately three foot in length — can be seen just under the surface of the murky water of the North Canal.
One of several tires submerged in the North Canal.
One of several hub caps among other debris in the canal.
ABOVE: A plastic water bottle rests by the recently cut brush along the North Canal in Lawrence. RIGHT: A metal pole, base and sign along the edge of the canal.
Debris collects along the North Canal.
A metal ring — possibly once used to block off an old pipe — on the edge of the North Canal.
The banks of the North Canal are typically used as a refuse bin. There are no trash barrels along the canal.
A plastic orange traffic barrel is submerged under water along with other debris in the North Canal.
A metal pole, base and sign along the edge of the canal.
A fish — approximately three foot in length — can be seen just under the surface of the murky water of the North Canal.
One of several tires submerged in the North Canal.
One of several hub caps among other debris in the canal.
Editor’s note: This is the sixth in an intermittent series of stories about the history and future of Lawrence’s canals. This installment in “Canal Crossroads” explores the persistent problem of canal trash.
As chance would have it, shortly after City Councilor Marc Laplante sat at a sidewalk bench along the North Canal for an interview on the waterway’s condition two young men walked by and one of them tossed an entire cellophane wrapped sub sandwich to the walkway.
“Waaaap,” it slapped against the concrete, and Laplante hopped from the bench and picked it up.
“Hey, hey-heh, hey boss, hey boss, hey, did you throw this over here?” Laplante called out to the guy, before urging him to do the city a solid and not litter.
There being no trash barrel around, Laplante set the sub on a railing post and, shaking his head, went back to his canal talk, first making a short observation.
“Then there is that,” he said.
The “that” to which he referred, in general, was canal trash.
The topic comes up from time to time in discussions about both of the city’s North and South canals.
The little rubbish drama involving the city councilor, in late spring, brings to mind a larger and lingering trash-related disagreement — between the city of Lawrence, on one hand, and the canal owner (previously, the Enel company and now Central Rivers Power) on the other hand.
The two sides have for decades disagreed over responsibilities related to canal trash; and, periodically, both sides have arranged canal clean-ups including one in October 2004, under Mayor Michael Sullivan that involved the local environmental health nonprofit Groundwork Lawrence and some 100 volunteers.
Ten tons of refuse, including bicycles, shopping carts and construction debris were removed from the canal bottom and banks in preparation for a Halloween festival for kids.
The North Canal extends a mile, parallel to Canal Street, from about the stone dam to the lower locks area across from Lawrence General Hospital.
Between those two places are residences, offices, businesses and sidewalks and grassy areas and lots and lots of trash and debris.
On Friday, an Eagle-Tribune reporter and photographer walked from 250 Canal St. and the Washington Mill Lofts to the Island Street complex where a new affordable housing project is under construction.
There were no trash barrels.
The banks above the canal walls were strewn here and there with plastic bottles, cans, cups, face masks and wrappers.
A long stretch of canal bank appeared to have been mowed recently but trash had already accumulated among the shorn weeds and grasses.
Visible in the shallow canal bed east of the Lucchesi Memorial Bridge at Union Street were metal signs (No Parking), hubcaps, traffic cones and barrels, tires, sheets of corrugated metal and sundry other items.
Ducks paddled about while a huge, three-foot fish swam at the shoreline.
On the other side of the Merrimack River, at the very end of the 3/4-mile long South Canal, is a pocket notorious for filling with trash.
Trash in the canals was among the issues in a 2017 complaint filed by the city, mill owners and others including Groundwork Lawrence.
The complaint, filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, claimed the canals’ owner — which at the time was the Enel energy corporation — was not living up to the canal maintenance responsibilities tied to its license to generate hydropower nearby at the Great Stone Dam.
FERC found that Enel was not in violation of its license, and deferred any decision on whether the canals’ owner was responsible for removing canal trash and debris until another issue was resolved — that being should the canals be covered under the company’s federal license to generate hydropower.
In fact, FERC directed the Lawrence Hydroproject owner, Enel, to file information with the agency that explained whether the canals had any role in the company’s hydropower operations.
Enel subsequently sold the hydropower operation to another company, Central Rivers Power.
Central Rivers then filed the information saying the canals were not related to its hydropower work and requested that the canals be removed from consideration for relicensing.
After an outcry from local stakeholders including the city, Groundwork Lawrence, Lawrence CommunityWorks and others the federal regulatory agency denied, earlier this year, Central Rivers’ request to remove the canals from its hydropower footprint and deferred the question over the canals’ inclusion for relicensing until the coming years.
Central Rivers must file an intention to seek a renewed license by next year, and the relicensing process would then begin -- culminating in 2028. The canals’ inclusion or exclusion from the footprint is expected to be decided during that process.
In the meantime, the trash and debris problem, in and around the canal, continues — as it has for decades.
Periodic clean-ups have temporarily lessened the problem but it always returns.
Randald Bartlett, who previously managed the canal project for Enel, says — speaking as a Methuen resident and an individual, not for the company — that he spent a decade trying to find solutions that worked for everybody.
“We would have meetings where we would talk about trash, I would point out that the canals don’t generate any trash and that there are no trash cans along the canals for residents to use,” Bartlett said.
“The city’s response was that Enel should install trash cans and empty them. We offered to buy trash cans but told them that we weren’t in the trash management business nor did we generate trash.”
An email sent to the mayor’s Thursday has as of Saturday gone unanswered.
But Brad Buschur, project director at Groundwork Lawrence, said he does not think trash barrels are the answer to the problem.
He said people need to take responsibility for their trash and most property owners around the canals do maintain their common areas and sidewalks.
He said it is Central Rivers’ responsibility, as the canals’ owner, to maintain their property.
“I live on a state road and people throw trash in my yard all the time, and i pick it up,” Buschur said. “That is what any property owner does.”
In an email a Central Rivers representative said the company is working with a partner to remove trash from the bottom of the canals.
“While Central Rivers does not introduce any trash into the river or canals, we have made significant efforts and investments to remove trash which accumulates in the canals, including installation of a trash boom in the North Canal, and partnering with local non-profits to manage trash and debris removal.
“We have also opened a dialogue with the City of Lawrence and other groups to discuss how the debris can be prevented from entering the river/canals. Proper waste management would improve the condition of the canals and eliminate the need for costly trash removal.”
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