In support of the Massachusetts Water Resource Authority committing additional resources to stormwater management.

WHEREAS: Somerville, together with Cambridge, is currently developing our legally required Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) plan, a set of large infrastructure projects to reduce sewage overflows into our waterways following storms; and WHEREAS: The root causes of sewage overflows from stormwater are not limited to individual cities, but are in fact regional and require large, inter-municipality coordination and large amounts of land; and WHEREAS: The financial burdens of the required infrastructure are unsustainably high for individual municipalities to enact, with the current Somerville draft contemplating annual rate increases of up to 20% a year for five years, which would require the City Council to approve nearly tripling of rates over just five years and thus injecting unnecessary risk into the financing of this mandated work; and WHEREAS: Even at this enormous costs, local financial constraints have required Somerville to propose a plan that, while legally sufficient, is viewed by local watershed advocacy groups as insufficient to reduce sewage overflows into our waterways; WHEREAS: Under current State law, the MWRA is only responsible for drinking water and sewer management, and does not sufficiently finance stormwater projects like Somerville’s CSO; and WHEREAS: There would be enormous collective benefit to the MWRA playing a role in stormwater management, including the ability to manage large plans across municipalities and to more equitable distribute the costs of these projects; NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED: That this City Council respectfully calls on our State Delegation to advocate for policy changes that would result in the MWRA playing a role in stormwater management; AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED: That a copy of this Resolution be delivered to our State Delegation.