Cambridge committee hears wide-ranging plans to reduce sewage overflows; votes to direct manager to work with coalition

The Cambridge City Council Health and Environment Committee on a municipal public hearing examined updates to the long‑term control plan for combined sewer overflows (CSOs), heard technical briefings from Cambridge Department of Public Works staff and three watershed organizations, and unanimously approved a committee request that the city manager work with city departments and a recently formed watershed coalition to evaluate options to reduce CSOs, including cost‑benefit analysis and expanded public outreach.

The committee chair, Councilor Nolan, opened the meeting calling it a public hearing to “review and discuss ongoing work to mitigate and reduce combined sewer overflows within Cambridge and the surrounding area and other mitigation efforts to address extreme weather events” and set the agenda to include a DPW presentation, watershed‑group briefs, public comment and council discussion.

Why it matters: CSOs are untreated discharges of sewage and stormwater that occur when the combined sewer system exceeds capacity during rainfall. City staff and advocates told the committee that climate change is increasing rainfall intensity and that the region must plan for future conditions; advocates urged a level of control that would prevent CSOs except during very large storms or to pursue full sewer separation where feasible.

City presentation and technical details

John Nardone, acting commissioner of public works, introduced DPW presenters and described the multi‑agency effort. City Engineer Jim Wilcox and Lucica Hiller, senior project manager for the CSO control plan, detailed the work already completed and the draft Long Term Control Plan (LTCP) update the city is preparing jointly with the City of Somerville and the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA). DPW said a draft recommended plan will be submitted on Dec. 31 and a final plan is due to DEP and EPA in January 2027.

DPW recapped past and ongoing measures: extensive sewer separation (for example, West Cambridge/CAM 004 and Whittemore Avenue projects), correction of more…