Rainfall on Tuesday caused a combined sewer overflow, the term for releasing waste into public waterways when sewer and water systems get overwhelmed.
Treated CSO discharged into the Mystic River in Somerville from 5:51 to 9:54 p.m., potentially affecting the area downstream from the Amelia Earhart Dam, according to a city alert. A state law from 2022 requires notice to residents when discharges last more than two hours.
A second Somerville discharge of 20 minutes was reported at 8:41 p.m. by the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority at Assembly Row’s Baxter Park, just downstream of the Route 28 Bridge; the Cambridge overflow website shows a discharges of 25 minutes at 5:45 p.m. into Alewife Brook, upstream of its confluence with the Little River and the Route 2 Bridge.
Residents are advised to avoid contact with these bodies of water for 48 hours after the discharge or the end of the overflow, because the sewage brings health risks from bacteria and other pollutants.
A $1.3 billion plan to reduce the CSOs – the result of four years of collaboration between Cambridge, Somerville and the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority – is being prepared for presentation next year to the federal Environmental Protection Agency and state Department of Environmental Protection. If the plan is accepted, the work is expected to take into the 2050s.
Comment is being taken on the draft control plan now; a project team is taking questions in person from 5 to 7 p.m. July 30 in the community room of the Fresh Pond Apartments, 366 Rindge Ave., near Alewife in North Cambridge. The next session is virtual, from noon to 2 p.m. Aug. 10.
Information about the discharges are at the Somerville CSO page, Cambridge CSO page and MWRA CSO page.
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