MWRA Decides It’s Too Expensive to Stop Discharging Sewage into the Charles
On February 25, 2026, a vote was taken to continue sewage discharges into the Charles River forever.
The Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA) is the quasi-governmental organization that manages drinking water and wastewater (i.e. sewage elimination) for ~3M people across greater Boston.
The MWRA was created in the 1980s in order to clean up Boston Harbor, which had been deemed the most polluted harbor in America.
The Clean Water Act litigation that led to the creation of MWRA is still going on, because the work is not done. Boston Harbor and the rivers that empty into it are cleaner than they were, but raw or partially treated sewage is still discharged into the Charles River with each major rainstorm.
MWRA’s recommended plan calls for installing several storage tanks and partially separating outdated sewage and stormwater pipes, but it falls short of recommending a large storage tunnel (a practice used in many cities, including right here in South Boston) that would virtually eliminate combined sewer overflows (CSOs).
Despite the public's clear preference for eliminating sewage discharges entirely, MWRA claims that solving the problem would be too costly. This claim contradicts MWRA’s own analysis, which shows that the difference in costs to MWRA ratepayers between their (weak) plan and what CRWA and other river lovers want to see is less than $4 per household per month - or the cost of your daily Dunkin' iced coffee!
But this is more than honoring a commitment; it’s a matter of public health. CSOs are associated with increased cases of gastrointestinal illnesses.
Portland, OR has a swimmable Willamette River. Chicago has a swimmable Chicago River. Paris now has swimming in the Seine. If they can do it, so can Greater Boston.
Raise your voice! Let Governor Healey know you want to Cut the Crap going into the Charles River!
