On Friday, September 10, 1999 at 10:30 a.m. MWRA will host a ceremony in preparation of the official opening of Quincy’s Nut Island to public access.

Last year, MWRA reclaimed 14 acres of open space on Nut Island after dismantling the old Nut Island Treatment Plant. In July 1998 the Nut Island Headworks was placed into service on the island. The facility screens and degrits wastewater generated by MWRA’s southern sewage collection system before discharge to the Inter-Island Tunnel, which transports its flows to the Deer Island Treatment Plant. The wastewater is then processed at Deer Island in accordance to environmental standards. Before the headworks came on-line, South System wastewater was treated at the old Nut Island Treatment Plant and discharged into Quincy Bay.

The 14 acres of newly landscaped land surrounding the new headworks facility will be opened to the public as part of the new Harbor Islands National Park Area.

The Nut Island Citizens Advisory Committee, elected and appointed officials of the City of Quincy and MWRA have worked together since 1984 to assure that this space would stand as a legacy of the Boston Harbor Project.

The public is invited to attend the dedication ceremony, which will run from 10:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. at Nut Island in Quincy. Since Parking is limited on Nut Island, MWRA is running shuttle busses from Marina Bay, Quincy. For directions to Marina Bay please call MWRA Public Affairs at (617) 788-1120.