Policy Order urging Governor Healey, the MBTA Board of Directors and General Manager Phillip Eng to amend the MBTA Alewife Station Complex redevelopment RFP to include as a priority eliminating untreated Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) sewage in our neighborhoods by incorporating green and gray infrastructure as central components of the project. The order further calls on the MBTA to collaborate with the MWRA, DCR, DPH, the City of Cambridge, and the community to address this public health threat

Sewage flows onto public pathways which kids, runners, strollers and pedestrians have to contend with:

Alewife Brook is “the site of the highest concentration of untreated sewage in Boston”* and about 2/3rds of it comes from CAM401A pictured here with the MBTA’s Alewife garage visible in the background on the left:

*https://mysticriver.org/news/2024/10/1/combined-sewer-overflows-on-the-alewife-brook

MBTA Alewife Station Complex redevelopment site from the RFP:

Assessor’s database shows MBTA and Green Cambridge land; purple arrow at bottom is CAM401A where ~2/3rds of the combined sewage is released:

Sewage releases in 2023 showing that most of the raw sewage comes from CAM401A:

Green and Gray Infrastructure:

Alewife Stormwater Wetland

Concrete cistern in Central Sqr: