LOW-COST HOUSING AND AQUIFER DEPLETION
TESTIMONY PREPARED FOR THE BOSTON CITY COUNCIL, JULY 15, 1985
My name is Galen Gilbert. I am the Secretary of the Fenway Community
Development Corporation, a neighborhood based organization devoted to
saving and building low cost housing. This testimony is presented on
behalf of the Fenway Community Development Corporation.
The Fenway is a neighborhood of apartment buildings, almost all of
which are supported by wooden piles driven into the wet subsoil when the
buildings were built. These piles will last for centuries if kept
immersed, but if the water table is lowered then the wooden piles can
decay. When that happens there are only two alternatives for the
building owner. one is to undertake expensive foundation reconstruction,
installing concrete beneath the basement. The other is to tear the
building down. If the building owner cannot afford the repairs, then a
vacant lot is his only asset. In the Fenway, if buildings are lost to
this problem, the displacement of low income families would be enormous.
Whole blocks could be flattened. High-rise development pressures would
be all but irresistable.
In one instance we have seen this cycle already. A four story
apartment building at Dalton and Belvidere Streets developed structural
problems attributed to rotten piles. The repairs would have involved
driving new posts through the roof, through each floor, into the ground,
in dozens of places. The rents in the building were low and the owner
could not justify that investment. Five years ago the residents were
turned out and a vacant lot is there today. Commercial developers have
approached the Fenway Community Development Corporation with plans for
luxury housing on the very site and with only a fraction of the low-cost
housing the former building afforded.
The Fenway Community Development Corporation is devoted to
preserving existing housing where low mortgage and low investment costs
mean low rent levels for tenants. While some institutions such as
Trinity Church, the Boston Public Library, and the Mother Church at the
Christian Science Center have been able to afford foundation repairs, as
have some houses in upscale neighborhoods, virtually no private building
in the Fenway could afford that without a drastic increase in their rent
levels. In most cases demolition would be the most economic alternative,
for vacant Fenway land is one of the hottest investments in the city.
We believe that the greatest threat to our aquifer comes from
transportation tunnels and sewer pipes improperly maintained and which
have been found to have ground water leaking into them. The Green Line
tunnels, the Storrow Drive underpass, the Turnpike tunnel, and
underground sewer mains have all been associated with leakage and damage
to buildings in their vicinity. Small earthquakes, wear from heavy
trucks passing through or over tunnels, construction defects, and lapses
in maintenance can all be causes of leaks in underground structures.
Such leakage can be detected by the presence of water in tunnels when
there is no precipitation present, and in sewer mains, by inspecting
late at night when most sewer users are sleeping.
We believe that if such inspections reveal leakage, repairs and
compensation to effected buildings should be arranged. Where several
agencies are found to be at fault, a common compensation fund should be
established with contributions by the negligent parties based on the
estimated relative proportion of gallons of water leaked from the
aquifer. We urge that the financial burden of repairs not be left on
building owners, because that will only turn the Fenway into another
West End. The burden should be spread amoung all the people who benefit
from the use of the leaking tunnels or sewers--toll payers on the
Turnpike, state tax payers for the T and the M.D.C., and Boston sewer
rate payers for the sewers. Large groups of people benefit from these
pieces of our metropolitan infrastructure and such groups should be made
to pay the full cost.
It may be necessary to bring lawsuits to recover compensation for
large numbers of damaged or at risk buildings. We request that the city
Law Department bear the expense of such litigation on behalf of
thousands of effected resident of the city. The economies of scale in
having one law suit instead of hundreds are obvious. The aquifer is a
vital natural resource and its defense should not be left strictly to
private efforts.
The problem of aquifer depletion effects landlords and tenants alike
in the Fenway and to deal with it we urge the following four specific
actions:
1. That the Boston Public Works Department be given the responsibility
for monitoring, detecting leaking from, and recharging the water
table in all districts built on wooden piles;
2. That the city maintain parks and open spaces unpaved in areas where
such will contribute to natural recharging of the water table, and
that the Boston Redevelopment Authority consider this matter in
making zoning maps;
3. That the Boston Water and Sewer Commission, the Metropolitan
District Commission, the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority,
the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, and the Massachusetts Bay
Transportation Authority be investigated to determine their
responsibility for aquifer depletion through leakage into their
tunnels and sewers mains and where such leakage is found that
repairs be made; and
4. That if evidence of serious or long term leaking into the
transportation tunnels and sewer mains is found, then claims for
damages be made by the city on behalf of its residents against the
responsible entities and a compensation fund be established to pay
for relevant building repairs. If such compensation cannot be
negotiated then the city Law Department should direct appropriate
lawsuits.
We urge that these steps be taken immediately and that they be
embodied in appropriate ordinances, budgets, and resolutions. Saving
existing housing is far more economical and more important than new
construction. The erosion of the municipal tax base caused damage to
buildings would be more than the cost of all the steps recommended here.
Because of the threat to the homes of thousands of people, the most
expensive thing the city can do, is to do nothing.
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