Water fight in Plymouth

Coalition protests movie studio's sewage plan

Mettie Whipple is president of a 100-household group that opposes Plymouth Rock Studios' plan. (Jonathan Wiggs/Globe Staff)

PLYMOUTH - An environmental group says developers of a massive movie studio are trumpeting the project's "green" features while at the same time proposing a waste-water treatment plan that would pollute a sensitive watershed.

Plymouth Rock Studios has filed plans for a $422 million film and digital studio complex on 240 acres. Studio backers estimate the project will bring 1,500 permanent jobs and generate business growth for Plymouth.

But while the company describes its plan "as the world's first green studio," a local environmental group, the Eel River Watershed Association, says Plymouth Rock Studios will improperly discharge 60 million gallons of sewage a year.

According to plans filed with the state for a required environmental review, the studio wants to pipe 166,000 gallons of sewage a day 4.5 miles to the town waste-water treatment plant. The route of the pipe has not been determined. But the watershed association, a 100-household group, contends the treatment plant already discharges too many nutrients into the 10,000-acre Eel River watershed, resulting in weed growth that kills fish and endangers 31 rare species.

"These are not ideas that make for an environmentally good project," said Mettie Whipple, the association's president. The association wants the studio to treat waste water on site.

But Bill Wynne, chief executive of Plymouth Rock Real Estate Investments, a company created to own the site, said it took a "holistic" approach to waste-water treatment in the Eel River watershed. By piping sewage to the town treatment plant, he said, it will be treated "more efficiently" than on studio property.

"Our technicians believe that our project is going to improve the situation with the Eel River if you look at the larger context," Wynne said.

The association opposed the location of the town's waste-water treatment plant within the watershed and has appealed its state-granted permits. The appeals are in litigation.

Results of an ongoing water-monitoring study conducted since the plant opened in 2002 show nutrient levels in the Eel River have risen, along with algae and aquatic plants, the association said.

The studio's plan involves extending a pipe from the plant to connect not only the studio complex, but two secondary schools, a golf course and recreation facility, and some private homes, all of which now rely on septic systems. The changes would mean a net gain for the environment because septic systems release "more concentrated nitrogen" into ground water than treatment plants do, Wynne said.

The studio also plans to run a separate line to use treated waste water from the plant for its landscaping. In addition, it will donate $15,000 to the ongoing Eel River nitrogen study.

State officials disputed the claim that increased nutrients from the waste-water treatment plant have degraded the Eel River. Alan Slater, chief of the state Department of Environmental Protection's ground-water program, said Thursday that a study of the watershed showed restricting discharge of phosphorous was the key factor in preserving water quality. Slater said monitoring wells near the plant have shown the plant is not adding phosphorous to the river.

But environmental protection spokesman Joe Ferson said the town still needs to file its own impact statement on whether the treatment plant can handle the increased load before the state makes a decision.

Studio officials said they expect state environmental approval of their plans within 60 to 90 days. They hope to start building the complex in May or June and open it sometime next year.