We completed our third set of readings for 2020 and our first set since Governor Baker issued the stay at home order in late March. Our physical office is open and our well reading operations have resumed. While the mild winter allowed us to get two full reading sets from January-March, this Spring and Summer has also been mild. We are seeing the effect of the lack of rain across our observation well network. This reading set had no observation wells recording an all-time high and 2 observation wells recording all-time lows. Our monthly precipitation table indicates this is the driest first six months of a year since the Summer of 2016; when we had our driest Summer ever. In short, we need some rain; preferably late at night and not on the weekends of course. Our Annual Precipitation vs. Average Network Elevation also shows the result of the lack of rain.

Update on Hot Spot Areas
Due to the pandemic work on investigations and repairs in hot spots were limited. All agencies will provide full updates on their efforts to address groundwater at this week’s City-State Groundwater Working Group meeting.  

Color-Coded Observation Well Elevation Maps
We have updated our color-coded well elevation maps. They are cleaner and provide a better point of reference when zooming in on a particular area in Boston Proper and East Boston. We have also enabled these maps with a direct link to our monitoring well and logger data page. Simply click the word HERE at the top of each map and it will take you directly to the page for all of our observation well elevation data.

29 Commonwealth Avenue Project: Article 32 Groundwater Conservation Overlay District (GCOD) Violation We recently discovered this project was in violation of the no negative impact on groundwater levels within the lot in question or adjacent lots when digging down below El. 7′ BCB provision of Article 32. This is more commonly referred to as the no harm requirement. The project was approved by the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) and met the 1″ capture requirement of Article 32. At the time of approval, the project had not anticipated conducting any work below the El. 7′ BCB threshold.  When we contacted them, the development team notified us that a design change required them to conduct work below El. 7′ BCB. They worked diligently on taking the necessary steps to mitigate the negative impact on the groundwater regime and provide the required documentation to the BGwT and the Inspectional Services Department (ISD). ISD issued a violation and presently no below-grade work is occurring at the site. The project has been remanded to the ZBA where it will submit the required documentation certifying that the proposed work complies with the no harm requirement. When approved by the ZBA the project will be allowed to resume below-grade work. We would like to thank the development team, ISD, and Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Services for their quick response. Also, a thank you to the residents of Back Bay for their patience while we sorted this out and came to a resolution. 

As always don’t hesitate to contact The Boston Groundwater Trust with any comments or questions you may have. Stay safe!