Reports: Executive Director’s Reports

June 29, 2009

  1. City-State Groundwater Working Group - The Group will meet again in July.
  2. MBTA - The MBTA has resumed work along Dartmouth St north of Boylston at Copley Station. They will be replacing the observation well that was destroyed during construction of the emergency exit in front of CVS. Discussions continue on the long term solution to low groundwater levels near Back Bay Station.
  3. DCR - The connection between the Storrow Drive West Pumping Station and the recharge galleys under Back Street should be completed imminently. There will be a ceremony when the flow is formally turned on.
  4. BWSC - BWSC has completed repairs to the leak at Beacon and Dartmouth Streets. We should see positive results from that repair as well as the continuing sewer relining work in the South End, flat of Beacon Hill, and Back Bay soon.
  5. MTA - The repair work done on the drain line near Clarendon St did not solve the problem. MTA is working with their contractor to determine a further fix.
  6. MWRA - Construction has begun on their project to replace their sewer system in East Boston. As part of this work, they will deactivate and fill the sewer along Porter Street that is in the area of consistently very low readings; the pipe should be filled before the end of 2009.
  7. GCOD - Compliance with GCOD remains excellent. Although the recession has slowed the number of applications, there still are very few Board of Appeals sessions without at least one GCOD case.
  8. PIC - The PIC held an informal meeting to discuss the recharge plans related to the two planned new buildings at the Prudential Center. While discouraging recharge systems in the public way except where absolutely necessary, the PIC has reaffirmed the importance of the recharge systems and will consider applications on a case by case basis.
  9. Legislation - I met with Sen. Chang-Diaz’s chief of staff to discuss pending groundwater legislation. I am working on setting up a meeting with Reps. Walz, Rushing, and Michlewitz to discuss the bill.
  10. Website - We are about to upgrade the website to include additional information about the importance of piling cutoff elevations. We will be posting information and maps depicting cutoff elevation data gathered from ISD building jackets on a neighborhood by neighborhood basis as Christian completes his research. Data for Back Bay and Lower Beacon Hill will be posted when the changes are made.
  11. Porous Pavement - The City installed a series of tree pits using Flexi-Pave, a porous paving material made from ground up tires on the inbound block of Huntington Ave west of Massachusetts Ave.
  12. Research Projects - I received a proposal from Professor Rich Vogel at Tufts for a statistical study to determine the impact of recharge systems installed under the GCOD. The trustees will evaluate the proposal at the July meeting.
  13. Comment Letters - I will be attending a scoping session this week on a project at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and will file comments subsequently. They will, as always, be posted on our website.
  14. Budget - The City Council approved the budget last week including the appropriation for operating funds for the Trust.
  15. Vacations - I will be on vacation July 6-17. During that time I will not have voicemail access. For service during that period, please call Christian Simonelli at 617-886-7553.