On a beautiful The sunny day in Boston there is usually people on Charles River sailing, kayaking, paddle board, canoeing, rowing – in contact with the water. You will probably play children, tourists make a picturesque tour through the river to enjoy a look at Boston, and groups of people who learn how to sail.
It sees idyllic and far from the “dirty water” that the Standells sang over Boston in 1966.
But even on these picturesque, sunny days when people enjoy the river, it is possible that there is still sewage in the water – especially after heavy rain storms.
The Boston area has parts of a combined sewage system in which both sewage and rainwater are collected in common pipes, and in the event of heavy rains, excess fluid deals with the treatment centers in which it is to be cleaned. Instead, it is introduced to local waters to prevent backups in the houses of the people.
In 1985 the federal government ordered the Greater Boston area to end the wastewater pollution from Boston Harbor and its tributaries, including Charles and Mystic rivers. Since then, many combined wastewater overflow locations – where waste water is released – have been closed. The average annual average outflow volume of combined wastewater canal overflow to the Charles River basin has decreased by 98 percent since 1988.
Despite great progress, there are more than 40 combined wastewater overflow locations along the Charles, Mystic, Alewife Brook and Boston Harbor – sometimes because addressing with more complicated technical challenges and thus higher costs is equipped. Climate change is expected that the volume of the overflow, which will be unloaded into these waters by 2050, will be unloaded into these waters, according to forecasts from the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority and the cities of Cambridge and Somerville. These three companies work together on a design plan – due in December – to tackle the remaining locations and to compensate for the increasing overflow risks with the considerable costs of the renovation.
In the meantime, the lawyers are pushing for the elimination of the combined wastewater overflow locations – including the water catchment area associations – in order to be ambitious, while others are pushing on a plan that prioritizes the affordability.
“If this new long-term control plan only has incremental reductions or do things a little better, this will be a big problem, since climate change will only reverse these efforts,” said Julie Wood, director of climate resilience at Charles River Watershed Association. “We essentially want to see the combined wastewater overflows eliminated because they really have the only way to go backwards.”
Woods non -profit organization leads a campaign with the slogan “Cut the Mist” with Poop -Mojis on posters and costumes to get raw waste water out of the Charles. You have set up signs for MBTA trains and a large banner on the pedestrian bridge over the Massachusetts Turnpike in Allston.
“We have to end this problem,” said Wood. “The Charles is a beloved resource. People should be able to use them without worrying about getting sick. Since our climate changes and it becomes hotter, people should be able to swim there.”
At a public meeting in January, the MWRA, Somerville and Cambridge presented several suggestions to combat the remaining survivors. The projects presented have schedules that extend in 40 to 50 years and could cost up to 4 billion US dollars, depending on which alternative is selected.
Matt Romero, the head of the MWRA Advisory Board, called for an approach that would be the lowest costs for wastewater payers.
“If we could wave a wand and make all combined wastewater overflows disappear, we would obviously,” said Romero. “But we live in the real world. And these are real dollars from real families and real payers. What we really always have to take into account [over the combined sewer overflows] This will be the right credit for the dollars that are issued. “
Wood said that it is possible that the financing of the remaining combined wastewater overflows from other sources can be secured as interest payers and state bonds.
In July, sewage flowed twice into the Charles and both appeared in rainfall with less than one centimeter rain. On August 14th there was another alarm that wastewater went into the river.
Mark Jacobson, Vice President of Charles River Recreation, who rents boats on Charles and Mystic, offers boat classes for both rivers, including a class where people teach how to turn a kayak upwards when it is kentnet. This includes complete immersion in the water.
He said that overflow events and poor water quality caused by cyanobacteria led to his company reject customers and re -plan bookings.
Jacobson said he saw people on the river the next day after overflow events. Public health officers recommend avoid contact with contaminated water for 48 hours after an overflow event, since there may still be a risk of bacteria and other pollutants.
“Very few people know about combined wastewater overflows,” said Jacobson. “People think that this is clean water for many years after the law and are surprised. They really don't expect this will happen in Massachusetts in 2025.”
Even in the event of occasional survivors, the Charles River is a relatively clean water compared to other places in the state. There are around 190 remaining overflow locations in Massachusetts, and many are located in communities with lower incomes. In the communities that have an overflow area
Studies have shown that exposure to water books after combined wastewater overall events can lead to public health problems. A 2024 study that concentrated on the Merrimack Valley, an area with more than 30 remaining combined wastewater overflow locations, showed that these events are associated with an increase in visits to the emergency room due to acute stomach intestine.
Nathan Sanders, a data scientist who is connected to the Berkman Klein Center for the Internet and Society at Harvard University, has examined how low -income communities are increased risk of dealing with waste water. He points out that other parts of the state have not made the progress that the Charles has.
“There are many other waters, beaches, rivers and lakes, in which Massachusetts do not yet enjoy the same water quality as the Charles,” said Sanders. “Environmental righteous communities experience a significantly higher burden of wastewater pollution than comparable water catchment areas that have white and richer and more English -language demographic features. This is the condition of things today, after they have made a decade of really considerable investments in the control of sewage pollution. So I have to change that.”
The state tried to deal with the lack of public information in 2021 with a law according to which the operators of the combined wastewater overflow locations notify the public with warnings if untreated wastewater is released into the water. Through this law, the state began to collect more robust data on combined wastewater overall events in mid -2022 and to create an annual report.
In 2023, which was particularly rainy, there were 606 overflow events, in which 2,847 million gallons of untreated wastewater were thrown into waters over the Commonwealth. In 2024 there were far fewer events – 137 overflowing – and 1,948 million gallons unloaded.
MP Greg Schwartz from Newton and Rep. David Rogers from Cambridge has sponsored an invoice that eliminates all owners of combined wastewater systems in 2050 in the state's waterways in the state's waterways.
“This is not a problem that will disappear,” said Schwartz, who also likes to Bogt on Charles. “While we had some successes in reducing the large amount of the combined wastewater overflow problem, it still exists in many of our rivers and waterways. It only gets worse if climate change affects the weather and especially rains.”
According to Schwartz, it is important to achieve a 25-year goal of elimination in order to combat the effects of public health from combined wastewater overflows.
“We should see our vision and effort to reach a future in which we can actually be confident that people do not have to avoid water when it is hot, and if they go boating or swimming, they don't have to end up in an emergency room,” said Schwartz.