MBTA Groundwater Action Plan

The MBTA, in partnership with the MBTA Groundwater Action Plan Team, is pleased to announce a long-term solution to address the groundwater concerns along the Southwest Corridor, near Back Bay Station.  The MBTA Groundwater Action Plan Team, whose members included representatives from the MBTA, City of Boston, Citywide Groundwater Emergency Taskforce, Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, Boston Water and Sewer Commission, Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, and the Boston Groundwater Trust, recommended to MBTA General Manager Daniel A. Grabauskas that the MBTA design and install a groundwater recharge well system.  The Team further recommended the reuse of water from the MBTA Follen Street Pumping Station, which pumps water from the rail corridor that is comprised of the Southwest and South Cove Corridors, as the primary supply source for the recharge system. 

Additionally, the Action Plan Team recommended the design of a linear cutoff wall on the east side of the rail corridor and the implementation of a groundwater flow model to collect data once the recharge system is operational.  The flow model will also be used to evaluate whether the installation of the cutoff wall is needed.

The long-term solution builds on the success of the short-term solution designed by GEI Consultants, Inc.  The short-term solution raised groundwater levels in an area where they have been low for several years through a series of recharge wells in Cazenove, St. Charles, and Berkeley Streets.  Furthermore, the long-term solution benefited from the work of Professor James Lambrechts and the students at Wentworth Institute of Technology.  They proposed the cut-off wall to halt the flow of groundwater into the rail corridor.

Over the next six years, the MBTA will invest $2.5 - $5 million dollars to design, install, and operate the long-term solution.  The design of the recharge system and the cut-off wall will begin this fall.  The MBTA anticipates the recharge system to begin operation during the winter of 2010.  The recharge well associated with the short-term solution will continue to function until the long-term recharge system is up and running some time during the winter of 2010.  In addition, the MBTA is working with the City of Boston to identify a funding source to maintain the system in perpetuity. 

Below are copies of the presentation on the long-term solution and other documentation.

All PDFs can be viewed with Adobe Acrobat Reader version 4.0 or higher.

If you have any questions, please contact Scott Darling, III, at 617.222.3174.