Summer of Record-Setting Rain, Sewer Overflows

In “This summer is officially rained out” Boston Globe correspondent Emma Obregón Dominguez writes, “Last summer was one of the hottest for Massachusetts, and Boston recorded its driest summer in 138 years. Then there’s this summer…Although summer doesn’t officially end for more than a month, it is already one of the rainiest on record since 1872.”

This should come as no surprise––across our cities + towns we saw the devastating impacts of this extreme rainfall––widespread flooding in Needham and Newton, on Route 9 in Natick, and I-95 South in Needham and Storrow Drive in Boston completely underwater. In the greater Boston area, this heavy rain also meant continual sewer overflows––in 2023, we’ve already had 23 combined sewer overflows (CSOs), discharging 47 million gallons of sewage and stormwater straight into the Charles. This far exceeds allowed limits.  “I think the juxtaposition of this incredible river resource with active sewage contamination is something that we should all be outraged about," said Stormwater Program manager Max Rome on CBS Boston. 

This is why our work is so vital––from work with Charles River Flood Model to advocating for an end to sewage overflows––we’re rapidly advancing nature-based solutions like green infrastructure, stream restoration, flood storage, and land conservation to prepare our cities and towns for the weather extremes of climate change. But we can’t do this work without your support––give today!