Document Category: MassDEP
from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection
| Title | Summary | Categories | Link | hf:doc_categories |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MassDEP’s 11-17-2025 letter to MWRA Board | Based on the information presented at the October 29 meeting, MassDEP is concerned that Recommended … | Cambridge, CSOs, MassDEP, MWRA, Somerville | cambridge csos dep mwra somerville | |
| Harbor Court Case Second Stipulation, from 2006 | This is the Boston the Harbor Court Case’s 2006 “Second Stipulation,” which not only updates … | CSOs, EPA, Historical, Legal, MassDEP, MWRA | csos epa historical legal dep mwra | |
| Alewife Sewage Pollution Flooding | During heavy rainstorms, the Alewife Brook floods into the parks, yards, and houses of area residents in Environmental Justice Communities. The flood water contains hazardous sewage that is dumped into the Brook from the active Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs) owned by Cambridge, Somerville, and the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA). Climate change, with its wetter rainy seasons, more intense storms, and sea level rise, is expected to increase the severity and frequency of these events. MWRA’s sewer infrastructure is failing to meet capacity during many rains, causing hazardous sewage pollution discharges. In 2023, Alewife Brook flooded repeatedly, overtopping its banks and inundating the Greenway of Alewife Brook Reservation State Park with untreated Combined Sewer Overflow discharges of human and industrial waste. Area residents from Somerville, Cambridge, and Arlington unknowingly bicycled, jogged, and pushed baby strollers through untreated sewage flood water in their state park. The Alewife Greenway Path is a heavily used transportation and recreation corridor that runs through multiple Environmental Justice neighborhoods. The Alewife Greenway Path is on DCR land and it links Medford, Somerville, and Arlington pedestrians and cyclists to the Alewife Red Line T stop. | Arlington, Cambridge, Climate Change, CSOs, EPA, Flooding, MassDEP, MDC and DCR, MWRA, Somerville | arlington cambridge climate-change csos epa flooding dep mdc-and-dcr mwra somerville | |
| MassDEP 2024 Draft Water Quality Variance to Allow for CSO discharges to Alewife Brook | This is MassDEP’s 2024 draft of the Water Quality Variance for Alewife Brook, which would … | Arlington, Belmont, Cambridge, CSOs, EPA, MassDEP, MWRA, Somerville | arlington belmont cambridge csos epa dep mwra somerville | |
| 2024 Comments on DEPWater Quality Variance – Charles River Watershed Association | “… we are deeply concerned that the proposed variance is failing to protect a valuable natural resource and is not delivering continued, meaningful progress. As drafted, the Tentative Variance is inadequate as it allows for continued pollution without requiring substantive corrective actions during the variance period… We do not support the Tentative Variance as written… the ultimate goal should be nothing less than complete or functional elimination of the CSO discharges… The current financial analysis is inadequate for determining the economic feasibility of CSO elimination… Combined Sewer Overflow is an Environmental Justice issue. Environmental Justice (EJ) is a stated priority for the federal government and the Healey-Driscoll administration.” | Cambridge, Climate Change, CSOs, MassDEP | cambridge climate-change csos dep | |
| Alewife CSO Permittees Request Extension | The 2019 Alewife Brook CSO Variances (permits to pollute through sewage pollution discharges) expire on … | Cambridge, Climate Change, CSOs, MassDEP, MWRA, Somerville | cambridge climate-change csos dep mwra somerville | |
| March 2022 Letter to Regulators from StAB & Watershed Associations | March 11, 2022 Via email Regional Administrator David Cash Environmental Protection Agency, Region … | Climate Change, CSOs, EPA, Flooding, Green Infrastructure, MassDEP, MWRA | climate-change csos epa flooding green-infrastructure dep mwra | |
| MWRA Final CSO Performance Assessment Hearing Notification | Massachusetts Water Resources Authority PRESS RELEASE Date: January 6, 2022 Contact: Ria Convery (617) 788-1105, ria.convery@mwra.com … | Arlington, Cambridge, CSOs, EPA, Legal, MassDEP, MWRA, Somerville | arlington cambridge csos epa legal dep mwra somerville | |
| The Boston Harbor Cleanup by Paul F. Levy & Michael S. Connor, published in 1992 | New England Journal of Public Policy Volume 8 | Issue 2 Article 7 9-23-1992 The … | CSOs, EPA, Historical, MassDEP, MDC and DCR, MWRA | csos epa historical dep mdc-and-dcr mwra | |
| MWRA BIANNUAL COMPLIANCE AND PROGRESS REPORT AS OF JUNE 25, 2021 | CIVIL ACTION No. 85-0489-RGS UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT for the DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS UNITED STATES … | Cambridge, CSOs, EPA, Legal, MassDEP, MDC and DCR, MWRA, Somerville, Stormwater | cambridge csos epa legal dep mdc-and-dcr mwra somerville stormwater | |
| Court Case 2016 Document, including Compliance Order 239, USA v. MDC & CLF v. MDC | Doug Foy, Esq., director of the Conservation Law Foundation, who brought the groundbreaking Boston Harbor Clean-up lawsuit, probably quoting an ubran sociologist, said, “A great city had three characteristics: It had world-renown cultural and educational institutions. It had enduring distinctive residential neighborhoods, and it had a body of water that it embraced.” | Cambridge, Climate Change, CSOs, EPA, Green Infrastructure, Legal, MassDEP, MDC and DCR, MWRA, Somerville | cambridge climate-change csos epa green-infrastructure legal dep mdc-and-dcr mwra somerville | |
| MassDEP 2019 Variance Permit | … | Legal, MassDEP | legal dep | |
| MassDEP CSO Variance Permit Fact Sheet | … | Legal, MassDEP | legal dep |