Annual taxpayer water and sewer rate recommendations were revealed Monday: an 8 percent increase in water billing rates and a 5.9 increase for sewer use, or a 6.3 percent averaged rise starting April 1. An average single-family home would see a rise of $80, taking an annual bill to $1,345 from $1,265.
“Rates projected from this year actually came down from what we projected,” deputy city manager Kathy Watkins said, crediting good management of budgets, cutbacks on capital expenses and lower interest rates on bonding for the capital expenses that remain.
The annual combined rate is projected to increase by an average 7.6 percent in each of the fiscal years from 2027 to 2031, though, as spending continues on projects to absorb stormwater and prevent water-sewer system overflows that can dump waste into public waters. “Hopefully we get lower interest rates and some of those can come down,” Watkins told city councillors at their regular Monday meeting.
The city runs its own water system, but its sewage goes into the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority system. That means sewage rates are “heavily influenced” by what Cambridge has to pay the MWRA, Watkins said. In addition, “historically, we have paid for a lot of water improvements through the sewer side.”
Cambridge, with the rest of the Northeast, remains in drought conditions that began in August – now critical, worsened from the significant conditions a month ago – and councillor Patty Nolan said her check on Hobbs Brook on Monday showed water levels at half of the 20-year median for this time of year.
“If we don’t see a dramatic increase, we may need to move into other methods of water conservation,” Nolan said.
A water ban is in effect with fines for disallowed water outdoor water use, and the city has held conversations with Harvard and MIT about how they manage the city’s largest green spaces, said Mark Gallagher, the Water Department’s managing director.
The conservation message has gotten out, though: Citywide, water use was down 118 million gallons last year from 2024, or approximately 4.3 percent. Federal recommendations are for 65 gallons per used person per day, and for more than a decade Cambridge has been below 45 gallons per person per day. “Overall, as a city, we do a really good job on water conservation,” Gallagher said.
Unaccounted water use, at an average 12 percent over the the past few years instead of hitting the goal of 10 percent, is now at 7 percent. “We’ve really gotten a hold on that,” Gallagher said.
City water experts also got a question about the pervasive and unhealthy “forever chemicals” known as PFAS, which crept into U.S. water and food supplies from decades of industrial uses and in household items such as nonstick cookware.
Cambridge continues to screens against the perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances – Massachusetts is one of only 20 states that still has PFAs regulations in place – and are “meeting an extremely high standard,” Watkins said. Gallagher said the city meets federal standards of screening out the chemicals that won’t come into effect until 2029.
In other actions, councillors:
Ordained zoning for religious, educational or other institutional purposes, the result of changing laws to encourage housing that had an unintended effect in a city with so many institutional uses: the expansion of a Lubavitch religious center on Banks Street, lawsuit and $540,000 settlement. Monday’s ordination aligns Cambridge with state law, as required. “It doesn’t mean in the future we couldn’t petition” to change local ordinances again to rein in institutional growth, Nolan said.
Supported the state in seeking a $3 million federal earmark toward a bike lane and footpath bridge across the Charles River past the Museum of Science. Proposed in 2023, the “Riverwalk” would connect Lechmere Canal Park and the CambridgeSide mall with the Teddy Ebersol Field section of Boston’s Esplanade. Pedestrians and bicyclists using it could bypass the McGrath-O’Brien Highway in Cambridge and Somerville and Leverett Circle in Boston. The widely supported project with floating wetlands “will provide a unique experience, benefit the river’s ecology and provide an opportunity to teach people about the river’s ecology,” said councillor Cathie Zusy, who introduced a late order for support.
Backed new commercial construction requiring a single-person restroom designated as gender neutral, a rule approved in Cambridge in 2012 but found to be clashing with a state law that has since been changed. “We’re not asking that current restaurants or [other businesses] retrofit,” councillor Marc McGovern noted. While it may be some additional expense, “a lot of places are going this way anyway.”
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