Document Category Archives

QUESTIONS: MWRA Advisory Committee 2022 Annual CSO Report Meeting May 12, 2023

At the MWRA’s Wastewater Advisory Committee’s meeting on May 12, 2023, the MWRA presented the public with the 2022 Annual CSO Report. At the end of the meeting, the public was encouraged to ask questions in written format. This is Save the Alewife Brook’s response to that request for written questions.

H.886 Fact Sheet: An Act Relative to Combined Sewer Overflows

Please Support H.886: An Act Relative to Combined Sewer Overflows Filed by Representatives Adrian Madaro and David Rogers THE WATER POLLUTION PROBLEM: RAW SEWAGE IS BEING DUMPED INTO OUR WATERWAYS THIRTY-EIGHT YEARS after the legislature created the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA) to end the dumping of sewage and sludge into Boston Harbor, and twenty-fiveContinue reading “H.886 Fact Sheet: An Act Relative to Combined Sewer Overflows”

MWRA CSO MAP

This is the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority map from 2016, which we believe has not changed as of 2023. It shows active CSOs as green dots. CSOs with 25-year level of control as orange dots, CSOs with treatment facilities as green dots with yellow outlines, and closed CSOs as red dots. There are six UNTREATEDContinue reading “MWRA CSO MAP”

Alewife Brook 2004 Through 2021 Calendar Year and Typical Year Hydraulic Model Results vs LTCP

The “Alewife Brook 2004 Through 2021 Calendar Year and Typical Year Hydraulic Model Results vs LTCP” chart was presented by MWRA to Arlington Select Board on 02/14/2022. This chart shows actual sewage pollution discharge volume in grey, actual rainfall in light blue, and the required LTCP goal in red. The grey bars show an upwardContinue reading “Alewife Brook 2004 Through 2021 Calendar Year and Typical Year Hydraulic Model Results vs LTCP”

March 2022 Letter to Regulators from StAB & Watershed Associations

March 11, 2022   Via email   Regional Administrator David Cash Environmental Protection Agency, Region 1 5 Post Office Square, Suite 100 Boston, MA 02109 david.cash@epa.gov   Commissioner Martin Suuberg Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection One Winter Street Boston, MA 02108 martin.suuberg@state.ma.us   Dear Regional Administrator Cash and Commissioner Suuberg:   We are at anContinue reading “March 2022 Letter to Regulators from StAB & Watershed Associations”

Cambridge Catchment and Combined Sewer Map

This is a very cool and easy-to-read map of Cambridge’s stormwater catchments. It is well designed and includes watershed borders, combined sewer outfalls, and a listing of Cambridge’s combined sewers and separated sewers.

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 Public Briefing on MWRA’s CSO Post-Construction Monitoring and Performance Assessment, Final Report The Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA) will hold a virtual public briefing on the findings of its Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) Post-Construction Monitoring and Performance Assessment on Thursday, FebruaryContinue reading “MWRA Final CSO Performance Assessment Hearing Notification”

MWRA 2021 Final CSO Performance Assessment

MWRA CSO Report is Unfair to Alewife’s Environmental Justice Populations On December 30, 2021, the Massachusetts Water Resource Authority (MWRA) published its anticipated Final CSO Performance Assessment, as part of a series of regulatory reports that have been submitted to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection. These reports areContinue reading “MWRA 2021 Final CSO Performance Assessment”

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 OF AMERICA, Plaintiff, . v. METROPOLITAN DISTRICT COMMISSION, . et al., Defendants. . CIVIL ACTION No. 83-1614-RGS CONSERVATION LAW FOUNDATION OF . NEW ENGLAND, INC., Plaintiff, . v. METROPOLITAN DISTRICT COMMISSION, Defendants. . This is the MWRA BIANNUAL COMPLIANCE ANDContinue reading “MWRA BIANNUAL COMPLIANCE AND PROGRESS REPORT AS OF JUNE 25, 2021”

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.”

CRWA MyRWA 2021 Letter re US v MDC

2021 Letter from the Charles River Watershed Association and the Mystic River Watershed Association to the US District Court regarding the federal court case U.S. v. MDC and the state CLF v. MDC court cases.

MWRA’s Economic Impact Summary from 1994, Adjusted for Inflation in 2019 USD

This document provides the MWRA’s 1994 cost estimate and economic analysis for system-wide (not just Alewife) sewer separation and CSO elimination, adjusted for inflation in 2019 USD. It’s a curious relic dated 2019, but containing data from 25 years ago. This information is useful seen through a historical lens, as the information is so dated.