Reports: Executive Director’s Reports

October 26, 2006

  1. Ceremony - The ceremonial reading of our final well under the EBB contract was a great success. Coverage was good in the local papers, and I have received several unsolicited comments from people who were there about how good it was. Even a few people who could not attend have told me that they heard it was really nice.
  2. Zoning - Applicants continue to consistently meet the GCOD requirements as they come before the Board of Appeals. The Board looks to us for input on these cases. The City remains on track to decide on whether to recommend extending the GCOD to East Boston, the North End, and/or the Fort Point Channel area before the end of the year.
  3. BWSC - Relining of the West Side Interceptor is complete. The Back Street sewer repair/replacement project has been bid. BWSC has rejected the low bidder because of performance concerns; there may be a delay while a challenge is resolved. BWSC has begun the video inspection of all of their sewer lines below Elevation 5; this will be a time consuming process that will help in the process of finding leaks while documenting the condition of these critical lines.
  4. DCR - The timing on the Storrow Drive tunnel replacement is now even more up in the air as DCR coordinates the project with major work on the Longfellow and Boston University Bridges. At the City-State Groundwater Working Group meeting DCR was asked to look into an interim recharge system if the project will be long delayed.
  5. MBTA - The T is attempting to get two recharge wells in the St. Charles Street area installed before the City’s winter construction moratorium. They plan to recommend a permanent solution to the T General Manager in March. The T will also be installing new groundwater observation wells in conjunction with the projects at Arlington and Copley Stations; I met with them last week to detail the location of the two new wells at Arlington. We will be filing comments on the latest environmental filing on Silver Line Phase III this week.
  6. MTA - MTA has repaired the small leak in the connector from I-93 to the Sumner and Callahan Tunnels. They have issued a contract for repairs to a leak in their drain line near Herald Street. They plan to include recharge in their roof drain repair project at the East Boston vent buildings for the Sumner and Callahan Tunnels. In conjunction with the Columbus Center project, they plan a major inspection of the drain line running inbound from the Prudential Center to look for any leakage.
  7. MWRA - The MWRA has gotten pricing to repair the two leaks in their 18" line along Porter Street in East Boston. They will be using different technologies at the two leaks, but repairs should be under way fairly soon.
  8. East Boston - While the MWRA repairs above will hopefully lead to increased groundwater levels in the area around Porter Street, we are still trying to find a potential cause for the low readings on Maverick Street. We are also trying to determine the reason why readings south of Porter Street stay below Elevation 3 until they reach a line about a block or two south. Beyond there the readings jump dramatically to generally over Elevation 7.
  9. North End - Along with Jim Hunt, I met with a City Councilor LaMattina and a delegation of North End residents to go over the groundwater situation in the neighborhood and to discuss the considerations about whether to extend the GCOD into that area. We agreed to meet again soon as the City got closer to making a decision to make sure that there would be adequate neighborhood input.
  10. Well Installation - We have completed the installation of the wells called for under the EBB contract. The contract was completed under budget and well below our Not To Exceed maximum.
  11. 303 Columbus Avenue - I met with the contractor for the project to agree on the location of an observation well that they will install in front of the neighboring building at 321 Columbus Avenue. Many of the neighbors have expressed concern about the possibility of piling damage from construction of this new building. The hope is that that the well will be in before they begin dewatering for construction.
  12. Website - Traffic on our website has been high in October, recovering from the summer lull. Last week, I added a section of Frequently Asked Questions.
  13. Presentations - I will be making a presentation on the groundwater situation to the St. Botolph Neighborhood Association on November 1. I expect to make a similar presentation to the Ellis South End Neighborhood Association, possibly in January.
  14. Research Projects - I’ve had some additional contact with Northeastern University on the potential research project to develop a method of determining piling cutoffs without digging test pits. They are optimistic that there is technology that can be adapted and expect to get back soon with more details. Jim Lambrechts is also going to develop a proposal for a project to investigate a potentially less expensive method of foundation repair for lighter buildings like those in East Boston.
  15. Press - There are new articles from the Boston Courant, the South End News, and the Back Bay Sun posted on our website.
  16. Comment Letters - I filed comments on projects at Jacob Wirth’s and the new Apple Computer store. In addition to those for the Silver Line, I expect to file comments shortly on a project at Wheelock College.
  17. Build Boston - Our team for the panel at Build Boston has met and is developing materials for our presentation. I think that this will be an excellent summary of the groundwater situation including the reason for the problem, the steps being taken to alleviate it, the GCOD zoning, and the effect of all this on a real project.