Beavers vs Us: Who Manages Stormwater Best?

 Environment, May/June 2024, Newsletter, Open Space, Stormwater  Comments Off on Beavers vs Us: Who Manages Stormwater Best?
Apr 302024
 
Beavers vs Us: Who Manages Stormwater Best?

By Anne-Marie Lambert There’s a lot of complexity but not much bureaucracy involved when beavers take action to manage stormwater. Beavers don’t follow many rules and regulations to slow down a brook’s flow to a prescribed amount or filter pollutants like phosphates or nitrates. They don’t submit maintenance plans for what they will do differently when large rainstorms or new pollutants arrive. Beavers don’t wait for permit approvals or make decisions based on a checklist of laws and regulations. Beavers have evolved to build their homes across brooks to create whole new ecosystems that support many species that have evolved [READ MORE]

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EPA Pushes for Alewife Sewage Cleanup

 Environment, May/June 2023, Newsletter, Sewers, Stormwater, Water Quality  Comments Off on EPA Pushes for Alewife Sewage Cleanup
Apr 262023
 
EPA Pushes for Alewife Sewage Cleanup

By Kristin Anderson and David White We are at an important point in the history of the Alewife Brook. The Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA) and the cities of Cambridge and Somerville are preparing a new long-term sewage control plan for the Alewife Brook/Upper Mystic River Watershed. Climate change, with its wetter rainy season, more intense storms, and sea level rise, is expected to result in more hazardous Alewife Brook sewage pollution and more flooding in the area. During some storms, the Alewife Brook floods into the houses, parks, and yards of area residents in environmental justice communities. Because of [READ MORE]

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Claflin Street Culvert Project

 March/April 2023, Newsletter  Comments Off on Claflin Street Culvert Project
Mar 012023
 
Claflin Street Culvert Project

Spot repairs of the trough of the old Claflin Street culvert took place in February 2023. The project includes the removal of the old grate system and replacement by a newly engineered grate with a larger mouth. The new grate is similar to the one behind the library and is designed to accommodate debris and greater precipitation. The new culvert will contain and direct higher water levels without limiting the flow. – Editor

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Alewife Brook, Little Pond Get D Grades Again

 Environment, Newsletter, Sept/Oct 2022, Sewers, Water Quality  Comments Off on Alewife Brook, Little Pond Get D Grades Again
Sep 092022
 
Alewife Brook, Little Pond Get D Grades Again

By Meg Muckenhoupt In 1972, the Clean Water Act called for all waterways to be “fishable and swimmable” by 1983, and for all pollution discharges to end by 1985. That still hasn’t happened, as is shown by the new annual water quality report card issued by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for the Mystic River in July. All of Belmont’s brooks received a D or D+ grade because they failed to meet state E. coli bacteria standards for boating in 45% to 55% of samples taken in 2021. Site 2021 2014 Grade Total Grade Total Alewife Brook D 47% D [READ MORE]

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Belmont’s Watersheds Cross Many Boundaries

 Environment, May/June 2022, Newsletter, Sewers, Water Quality  Comments Off on Belmont’s Watersheds Cross Many Boundaries
May 052022
 
Belmont’s Watersheds Cross Many Boundaries

By Anne-Marie Lambert Here in Belmont, we live on the edge of two large watersheds—the Mystic River watershed and the Charles River watershed. Understanding our role in these watersheds is more important than ever as storms in the Northeast grow more intense and more frequent, and as the rise in Atlantic Ocean sea levels starts to affect the underground water table.  The lack of alignment between our political maps and the topography of our watersheds can make it tricky to understand Belmont’s role. In the flat low-lying areas of town where there isn’t much gradient, waters flow in directions that [READ MORE]

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Fifty Million Gallons of Sewage Released

 Climate Change, Environment, January 2022, Newsletter, Sewers, Stormwater, Water Quality  Comments Off on Fifty Million Gallons of Sewage Released
Jan 032022
 
Fifty Million Gallons of Sewage Released

Discharges to Alewife Brook Have Persisted for Two Decades By Kristin Anderson and David White Fifty million gallons of sewage-contaminated stormwater have been discharged into the Alewife Brook from the cities of Cambridge and Somerville in 2021, according to websites for those two cities and the Metropolitan Water Resources Authority (MWRA) for the Alewife/Upper Mystic Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO). There has been as much sewage-contaminated water discharged into the Alewife Brook in 2021 as there was in 1997 before the implementation of a $200 million plan to modernize the area’s antique combined sewer systems.  Pollution persists in the Alewife sub-watershed [READ MORE]

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Belmont Has One Year to Clean up Waterways

 Environment, May-June 2021, Newsletter, Sewers, Water Quality  Comments Off on Belmont Has One Year to Clean up Waterways
May 042021
 
Belmont Has One Year to Clean up Waterways

By Anne-Marie Lambert A 2017 consent order from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)  gave Belmont five years to stop underground sewage from leaking into our waterways. We made a lot of progress in 2020, but there could be a long way to go before all our outlets run clean. In 2020, the town undertook a $550,000 sewer system rehabilitation construction project (SSRCP). More work is planned in 2021 under a sump pump removal and sewer rehabilitation contract. The SSRCP included significant work such as: Repairing and lining several sewer mains Lining many sewer service laterals Removing a few sewer [READ MORE]

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How to Help Belmont Survive Climate Change

 Climate Change, Environment, March/April 2021, Newsletter, Open Space, Stormwater, Water Quality  Comments Off on How to Help Belmont Survive Climate Change
Mar 012021
 
How to Help Belmont Survive Climate Change

by Anne-Marie Lambert Flooding caused the collapse of the Trapelo Road culvert over Beaver Brook in 2010, and inundated the train tracks at the Waverley MBTA commuter rail station. Belmont is expected to see its share of future big intense storms, extreme heat, and other disasters from climate change. If it’s any comfort, our town now has a preparedness plan, thanks to a state-funded program. The Town of Belmont Hazard Mitigation-Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness Plan identifies local vulnerabilities to flooding, pollution, and traffic jams, and proposes mitigating actions, short-term and long-term, to help vulnerable populations safely shelter from extreme heat, rain, [READ MORE]

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2021 Select Board Candidate Answers BCF Questions

 Bicycles and bike paths, Bike Paths, Board of Selectmen, Climate Change, Environment, March/April 2021, Newsletter, Open Space, Select Board, Sewers, Stormwater, Traffic, Transit, Water Quality  Comments Off on 2021 Select Board Candidate Answers BCF Questions
Mar 012021
 
2021 Select Board Candidate Answers BCF Questions

Each year, the Belmont Citizens Forum asks Select Board candidates questions about issues facing our town. This year, Mark Paolillo, who is running unopposed, provided answers. He was limited to 1,200 words. Describe your vision for preserving and enhancing Belmont’s quality of living, learning, working, and connecting. Preserving and enhancing Belmont’s quality of life must begin with making town finances stable and sustainable. This will require a more in-depth approach to long-term structural reform.  Belmont should consider the use of performance management budgeting which measures resource input against the resulting output of services for each department. That will help us [READ MORE]

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Carrots and Sticks Nudge Belmont’s Cleanup

 Environment, Newsletter, November 2020, Sewers, Stormwater, Water Quality  Comments Off on Carrots and Sticks Nudge Belmont’s Cleanup
Nov 062020
 
Carrots and Sticks Nudge Belmont’s Cleanup

By Anne-Marie Lambert Two key drivers are nudging Belmont to clean up our waterways and protect us from the storms coming with climate change: the threat behind an Environmental Protection Agency Consent Order and the tempting Massachusetts Municipal Vulnerability Program (MVP) Every six months, Belmont is obliged to file a report with the New England region of the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to demonstrate compliance with a 2017 consent order under the Clean Water Act. The town has to show steady progress cleaning up the sewage pollution Belmont has sent to Boston Harbor due to the intermingling of Belmont’s [READ MORE]

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Cleaning Belmont’s Water Means More Work

 Environment, May/June 2020, Newsletter, Sewers, Stormwater, Water Quality  Comments Off on Cleaning Belmont’s Water Means More Work
May 032020
 
Cleaning Belmont's Water Means More Work

By Anne-Marie Lambert There is good news and bad news in Belmont’s January 31 Report on Compliance to the EPA. On the one hand, the town decided to go ahead and reline or replace many sewer laterals and rehabilitate significant sections of the sewer system in certain Belmont neighborhoods as part of a comprehensive construction project planned for spring 2020. On the other hand, the report indicates that while there was a lot of investigation work (dye testing and sampling) and design work between July 2019 and January 2020, there was no significant mitigation work during the fall construction season. [READ MORE]

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Litigation Was Not in the 20 Year Plan

 Bike Paths, Board of Selectmen, Construction and Housing, Environment, January 2020, Newsletter, Parking  Comments Off on Litigation Was Not in the 20 Year Plan
Jan 062020
 
Litigation Was Not in the 20 Year Plan

By Sue Bass Litigation was not the plan when we considered forming what became the Belmont Citizens Forum. McLean Hospital blindsided us by filing for a Massachusetts Land Court declaratory judgment that the rezoning of its land was not “illegal contract zoning.” The initial BCF board members—none of whom were lawyers—had never heard of contract zoning, much less that it might be illegal. It turned out that Belmont’s deal met the textbook definition of contract zoning. The courts agreed but the Appeals Court ruled in November 2002 that Belmont’s contract was not illegal. Meanwhile, in June 2001, 20 Belmont residents [READ MORE]

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20 Years of Belmont Water Trouble

 Environment, January 2020, Newsletter, Open Space, Sewers, Stormwater, Water Quality  Comments Off on 20 Years of Belmont Water Trouble
Jan 062020
 
20 Years of Belmont Water Trouble

By Sumner Brown Belmont has two types of water trouble. One is flooding during heavy rains. The other trouble comes from leaking sewer pipes. Flooding Today, as I write this, there is no flooding in Belmont. Floods are rare enough that we do not make ourselves perpetually anxious about them, but parts of Belmont are vulnerable. In both Belmont and Arlington, people live in what were swamps, and there seem to be 100-year storms every 10 years. Climate change may have something to do with this. The Belmont Citizens Forum advocates for rain gardens and other measures to slow the [READ MORE]

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20 Amazing Years of the Belmont Citizens Forum

 Bicycles and bike paths, Bike Paths, Environment, Historic Preservation, History, January 2020, Newsletter, Sewers, Water Quality  Comments Off on 20 Amazing Years of the Belmont Citizens Forum
Jan 062020
 
20 Amazing Years of the Belmont Citizens Forum

  By Jim Graves As a founding board member of the Belmont Citizens Forum (BCF), who has been inactive in recent years, I am honored to share these thoughts on why the BCF has been so valuable and to applaud the individuals and supporters who have sustained the BCF for 20 years. Prior to starting the BCF, the founders worked to first improve, then oppose, and nearly defeat the development and zoning changes proposed for 238 acres of open space owned by Partners Healthcare and its subsidiary, McLean Hospital. Legal challenges by the BCF and supporters slowed implementation, and notably, [READ MORE]

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Construction Continues on the Uplands

 March 2016, Newsletter  Comments Off on Construction Continues on the Uplands
Mar 152016
 
Construction Continues on the Uplands

By Anne-Marie Lambert The first red-winged blackbirds now returning to the fields by Little River may not think much of the “wildlife habitat replication area” alongside the newly constructed buildings at the Uplands. This newly seeded replication area sits between the former Little River, now a large drainage ditch next to Frontage Road, and one of the four-story Tyvek-wrapped buildings that comprise The Royal, formerly named The Residences at Acorn Park. In a contested 2014 ruling, the Massachusetts Superior Court determined that this replication area (next to what amounts to a Route 2 drainage ditch running under Acorn Park Drive) [READ MORE]

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Globe Critique Spurs Town Sewerage Review

 March 2016, Stormwater  Comments Off on Globe Critique Spurs Town Sewerage Review
Mar 142016
 
Globe Critique Spurs Town Sewerage Review

By Anne-Marie Lambert and Frank Frazier Have you seen the sewer today? This past summer, a Boston Globe editorial (“Belmont Needs to Clean Up Its Act,” August 14, 2015) caused the Belmont selectmen to request a presentation on the town’s sewer and storm drain systems. Belmont’s director of community development Glenn Clancy welcomed the opportunity. He took issue with Globe author Alan Wirzbicki’s comparison of Belmont’s $8 million in sewer expenditures dating from a 1998 Notice of Violation from the EPA. He cited the expenditures of Cambridge and Revere, both of which have much more significant pollution issues than Belmont. [READ MORE]

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