STORMWATER SOLUTIONS
Curbing stormwater pollution for a cleaner Charles River.
Stormwater pollution is the greatest threat to a clean Charles.
In our highly urbanized watershed, every rainstorm washes all the gasoline, trash, oil, pet waste, and more from our roads, parking lots, and roofs straight into the Charles, untreated.
Polluted stormwater runoff also degrades the river ecosystem with excess nutrients, which cause rampant invasive species growth, toxic cyanobacteria blooms, and fish kills, making our rivers uninhabitable for humans, plants, and wildlife alike.
What we’re doing:
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Strengthening Stormwater Regulations
We’re keeping stormwater pollution out of our river in the first place by advocating for strong stormwater regulations, helping cities and towns meet reduction goals, and bringing nature back into the built environment with green infrastructure solutions. Under the Massachusetts Municipal Stormwater (MS4) permit, over the next 20 years, cities and towns in our watershed must reduce phosphorus discharges into the Charles in accordance with what CRWA’s studies have shown is necessary for a truly healthy river.
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Installing Green Stormwater Infrastructure
We work to design, build, and maintain Green Stormwater Infrastructure all across our watershed. Green Infrastructure are urban design solutions that bring nature back into our built environment. These interventions mimic the natural water cycle to stop stormwater runoff from polluting our rivers and flooding our homes, as well as make our neighborhoods more resilient to climate change, create wildlife habitat, cool our neighborhoods, and beautify public spaces.
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Eliminating Combined Sewer Overflows
Combined sewer overflows (CSOs) occur when heavy rain and intense storms cause our outdated combined sewer systems in Boston and Cambridge to overflow into local waterways. There are ten active CSO outfalls maintained by the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA), Boston Water & Sewer Commission (BWSC), and the City of Cambridge that routinely discharge into the Charles River. This is a public health risk. CSOs expose our communities to bacteria, viruses, excess nutrients, pharmaceuticals, trash, and even harmful PFAS compounds. And, overflows are becoming more frequent as climate change brings increased rainfall and stronger storms.
Recent News.
