City of Cambridge Joins Mystic Stormwater Education Collaborative

The City of Cambridge is partnering with the Mystic River Watershed Association in a new effort to address stormwater pollution from communities that discharge stormwater to the Mystic River and its tributaries (watershed). The Stormwater Education Collaborative includes representatives from more than 15 municipalities within the 76 square mile Mystic River Watershed.

“Stormwater pollution is a universal concern,” said Cambridge Public Works Commissioner, Owen O’Riordan. “By working together, we can raise awareness of our shared water resources and challenges. Together, we can help promote solutions to pollution that protect the Alewife Brook and the Charles River.”

The Collaborative is developing a multimedia outreach campaign for each municipality to implement, allowing for consistent messaging across the watershed. Materials will include video public service announcements, social media graphics, website content, and posters to start, with additional educational materials to be developed in 2018. This project is partially funded through a US Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) Urban Waters grant.

“We are excited to work across municipalities to develop an innovative and effective education campaign addressing a primary source of pollution to our waterways. There are a lot of steps community members, businesses, and developers can take to limit their impact on the Mystic, and we’re here to act as a resource for the municipality as they work to improve the local river,” said Patrick Herron, Executive Director of the Mystic River Watershed Association.

Stormwater runoff is generated when precipitation from rain and snowmelt flows over land and does not soak into the ground. As runoff flows over impervious surfaces (paved streets, parking lots, and building rooftops), it accumulates debris, oil, pet waste, litter, chemicals, sediment or other pollutants. Stormwater runoff is a major source of pollution to the Mystic and Charles Rivers and their tributaries, lakes and ponds.

To learn more about the Stormwater Education Collaborative please contact Patrick Herron, Mystic River Watershed Association, at 781-316-3438. To learn more about Cambridge’s stormwater efforts, please visit CambridgeMA.gov/Stormwater or contact Catherine Daly Woodbury at cwoodbury@cambridgema.gov.