Press Release: 6/18/2025

CRWA urges legislators to eliminate Combined Sewer Overflows

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 17, 2025

Contact: Stefan Geller, Senior Communications Manager

Email: sgeller@crwa.org

Phone: 781.572.9341

BOSTON, MA – Joined by concerned residents dressed as poop emojis, members of Charles

River Watershed Association (CRWA) testified before the Joint Committee on Environment and

Natural Resources today, urging lawmakers to adopt critical legislation to eliminate combined

sewer overflows (CSOs) in Massachusetts water bodies by 2050.

“The Clean Water Act of 1972 promised fishable, swimmable rivers by 1983. Yet today in 2025

we still cannot swim in the Charles River,” said CRWA Executive Director Emily Norton. “The

Charles is cleaner than it was, but the work is not done and there is a real fear that the work has

stalled and will remain stalled indefinitely, unless the MWRA, and the cities of Somerville and

Cambridge get the message that they have to finish the job.”

CRWA requested the lawmakers report An Act to eliminate combined sewer overflows in

Massachusetts waterways (H. 1046) favorably out of committee, a bill that would require any

entity that owns or operates a combined sewer system to eliminate all CSOs into Massachusetts

waterways by 2050, with interim targets.

In a combined sewer system, the same pipe carries rain from the streets and wastewater from

homes and businesses. This system is workable in dry weather, but when it rains the system

cannot handle the excess, and the overflow discharges into our rivers.

Tens of millions of gallons of raw and partially treated combined sewage enter Massachusetts

waterways each year and that volume is growing thanks to climate change. Over the course of

2023 and 2024, the Charles River received over 100 million gallons of raw and partially treated

combined sewage from 63 unique CSO activations. After CSOs, the river is considered unsafe

for 48 hours. This means that through the two years, CSO activations directly restricted

recreation on the river for roughly four months.