Monday night, the MWRA and the City of Cambridge presented their draft CSO Plan as it relates to Magazine Beach. See: https://voice.somervillema.gov/joint-cso-planning. The goal of the project is to limit combined sewer overflow flows into the Charles and Mystic Rivers and Alewife Brook.
While Magazine Beach Partners President Ken Carson and I had been told in June that the plans for the MWR201 (Cottage Farm CSO Facility) Storage Tank were negotiable—that the tank could move (closer to the Cottage Farm Plant, to Goose Meadow, or to other places close by), that the head house might be integrated with the current one, and that the proposed security fencing might not be necessary, Monday residents were told differently; they were told that what’s shown below is what will happen.
The MWRA shared that they will permanently take 2.3 acres of parkland for a fenced off water storage facility and take 8.3 acres for 6-8 years for a staging area as the 10m gallon tank is constructed. We want to support better water quality and CSO infrastructure but not at the longterm expense of our newly renovated park. (We’ve been working to better it for 16 years!)
Magazine Beach Partners and the Cambridgeport Neighborhood Association are each submitting formal letters to the MWRA. We welcome you to send in comments as well before October 30, 2026 at https://us.planengage.com/updatedcsocontrolplan/page/home or email: UpdatedCSOControlPlan@aecom.com. You can also send written comments to:
MWRA , Attn: Draft Updated CSO Control Plan
2 Griffin Way
Chelsea, MA 02150
(But the MWRA, would prefer electronic comments!) Sorry not to have posted earlier, but I did send two email blasts to local listservs!
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