Citywide Drainage and Water Quality Master Plan

Inclusion of rain bioretention and phytoremediation zones with new street updates.

With wonderful capital projects, such as the updating of Beacon St. to include bike lanes and wider sidewalks, we should ensure that green zones, as pictured here, serve efficiently as bioretention and phytoremediation zones. This is a perfect opportunity to collect stormwater runoff on a highly trafficked street. With a proper infiltration media, a shallow depression below street level, and a grate or cut-out in the curb would allow excess polluted stormwater to infiltrate into the water table rather than enter the drain-to-the-ocean pipeline. Additionally, when sidewalks are expanded (the brick zone, here) these areas could instead be planted with native grasses (grassed swales) to help mitigate nitrogen and other pollutant concentrations in the cities soils (in addition to serving as a bioretention zone). Moreover, incorporating these types of solutions also assist in preventing bike lanes from flooding during heavy rain events, increase community connection to nature, can help serve as "green corridors" for pollinating insects to traverse the city, and can help develop local smart growth initiatives (https://www.mass.gov/service-details/smart-growthsmart-energy-background-information)

Bring back the rain barrel program? And community education?

We have been trying to wait patiently for a holistic stormwater solution and we still have years until that's likely to be completed. In the meantime can we educate the community about resources provided by the city (and bring back the defunct rain barrel program?) We must address the infrastructure, but should be layering the solution(s) at individual, neighborhood, and municipal levels.

Rain barrels and groundwater discharge

Incentivizing or requiring buildings to buffer their own roof-collected stormwater would reduce the amount of runoff going to city streets, and also conserve reservoir water for use during droughts. We recently installed two rain barrels to catch our garage runoff for use when watering plants. Rainwater from our house goes into a French drain instead of the street, so it waters our trees and bushes. The city should require this for new construction and subsidize re-routing to on-site buffer for existing properties, starting with those where it would help the most.

Support residents in replacing impermeable paving with permeable pavers wherever possible (sidewalks, parking, walkways, etc.)

Would the city consider partnering with private property for mitigation?

We frequently have standing water at the end of Clifton Street, technically on private property and not included in existing green infrastructure projects, yet a great location for a subsurface trench given the topology. How can we partner to get infrastructure where it's needed, despite property lines?