Boston’s waterways are more than a backdrop to the city. They’re vital to the health, economic vitality, and quality of life enjoyed by Bostonians. But these waterways are threatened by raw sewage and polluted runoff that often carries harmful bacteria, metals, oil, and phosphorus unchecked into Boston’s rivers and harbor.
Fixing Boston’s broken stormwater management system was the last big unaddressed issue in the clean up and transformation of Boston Harbor. Building on CLF’s prior precedent-setting advocacy that led to the harbor’s resurgence, in 2010, CLF sued the Boston Water and Sewer Commission for violating the Clean Water Act.
Our goal was to ensure that the Commission did its job and controlled polluted runoff from its storm drain system – pollution that contributed to the water woes facing the Charles, Mystic, and Neponset rivers, Chelsea Creek, and Boston Harbor.
EPA joined our suit and, after a long negotiation, in 2012, we reached a landmark settlement in the case. The Commission committed to remove illegal hook ups to the sewer system and modernize Boston’s pollution control with the use of green infrastructure and other innovative techniques that will protect clean water in Boston.
Thirty years after CLF filed the first federal lawsuit that led to Boston Harbor’s clean up, a big obstacle still stood in the way of healthy local waters. The Boston Water and Sewer Commission had fallen behind in its obligations to rid the city of hundreds of unauthorized connections to the city’s storm sewer system – allowing untreated sewage to flow into Boston’s rivers and swimming beaches on the Harbor.
Sewage wasn’t the only problem, however. The Commission’s approach to managing stormwater runoff from the city’s streets was also lacking and outdated.
The result? Many of Boston’s rivers – including the Charles, Chelsea, Mystic, and Neponset – and Boston Harbor were being polluted by raw sewage and unhealthy amounts of bacteria. This polluted runoff can feed toxic algae blooms that make water unsafe for swimming, smells bad, and drains oxygen levels, threatening fish and shellfish.
This pollution also threatens the health of economically disadvantaged communities nearby, which already shoulder a disproportionate number of environmental hazards that threaten their well being.