Make Your Voice Heard!

Great news! Thousands of messages were sent to the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority Board of Directors, urging the MWRA to eliminate sewage pollution in our rivers. Later, Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection rejected MWRA’s terrible plans to forever dump sewage in our rivers. 

On February 4th, the MWRA Board of Directors will meet to vote on new plans for the Alewife, Mystic, and Charles rivers. You can help! Ask the MWRA Board of Directors to vote for complete elimination of sewage pollution at Alewife Brook.

Here are two ways that you can help now:

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Fill out this form to add your name to Save the Alewife Brook’s letter, shown below.

Dear Massachusetts Water Resources Authority Board of Directors,

Please fulfill the mission of the MWRA to protect community health and welfare through modernization of the sewer system. Vote in favor of a Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) plan that eliminates CSO sewage pollution at Alewife Brook. 

During heavy rain events, sewage-contaminated water floods over the banks of Alewife Brook. It then flows into the homes, yards, and parks of the area’s most diverse and vulnerable Environmental Justice neighborhoods. The area is densely populated, with 5000 people living in Alewife Brook’s 100-year flood plain. 

Alewife CSOs have made people sick. At Alewife Brook, E. coli counts are 10 times higher than EPA’s recommended safe level for primary contact and 3 times higher for secondary contact. In addition to E. coli, Alewife area residents can be exposed to other live bacteria, viruses, and parasites, including norovirus and intestinal worms.  A Boston University School of Public Health study concluded that just living near CSOs can make people sick.

In 2023, 29 million gallons of untreated sewage were discharged into Alewife Brook. That same year, the brook flooded five times. Children rode bikes through sewage floodwater after these storms. Joggers ran through it. And parents pushed baby strollers through untreated sewage flood water. The situation is horrifying and unacceptable.

MWRA can and must eliminate CSOs at Alewife Brook. Alewife Brook is what what is referred to as a “sensitive area.” This is because of its proximity to Cambridge’s drinking water source at Fresh Pond. Alewife Brook is also considered an “underserved and problem area” because of frequent flooding and malfunctioning regulators. Alewife Brook CSOs are a major factor in water pollution and are responsible for a public health crisis. CSOs also increase health risks to Environmental Justice communities. This violates MWRA’s mandate to protect public health, by providing an adequate sewage collection, treatment, and disposal system. 

MWRA is in violation of its charter at Alewife Brook. Alewife CSOs are not in compliance with the Boston Harbor court case.

Please eliminate CSOs at Alewife Brook. Protect the health of folks who live near Alewife Brook. Protect the people who use the DCR state parkland around the brook. Protect future generations.

Sincerely, Save the Alewife Brook

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Or, send your own email to the MWRA Board of Directors. Ask for an end to sewage pollution at Alewife Brook.

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