| March 22, 2006
| The first readings from our initial wells in East Boston have revealed very low readings in several areas near Porter Street. The lowest infrastructure in the area appears to belong to MWRA. They are investigating to see if they have any leak problems. I expect to get a report at the Working Group meeting. |
| April 27, 2006
| MWRA investigated their pipes near the low point on Porter Street. Their large pipe was recently relined and found to be tight. They have an 18 inch clay pipe that shows some cracks near the crown; they have not yet been able to determine the condition near the bottom. The elevations of their pipes line up pretty closely with the groundwater levels that we have measured, so they will continue their investigation. |
| June 5, 2006
| MWRA continues to investigate the possibility that they have leakage in an 18" line near the groundwater depression along Porter Street. |
| July 17, 2006
| Using our data, the MWRA was able to pinpoint two leaks in their sewer pipes in the Porter Street area. The leaks correlate very closely with the two lowest points that we identified. They have begun in house design for an interim repair that would last until 2010. Between 2008 and 2010, MWRA will be repairing or replacing almost all of their pipes in East Boston. At that point, the pipe at Porter Street will no longer be necessary and will be filled in. |
| September 20, 2006
| The area of low groundwater elevations around Porter Street has expanded slightly in our current readings, taken last week. We are still waiting to see a timetable from MWRA for the repairs that they need to do where two breeches were found in their line. We have also found a new area of very low groundwater along Maverick Street near Frankfort Street. This has appeared in our last two readings in a well that originally was around Elev 8 and has dropped over 8 feet. We don’t yet have a potential cause pinpointed. Our new wells have also found an area of low groundwater near the Winthrop line; again, we have yet to isolate a potential cause. |
| October 26, 2006
| 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. |
| February 15, 2007
| Jim Lambrechts, Nancy Grilks, Christian Simonelli, and I did a walk through of the Paris Flats area of East Boston, where groundwater readings are particularly low, last week to gain a better appreciation for the area and for what steps might be the best to take to address groundwater related problems there. We will have a meeting tomorrow with Jim Hunt to discuss what we have found and how best to proceed. There will be a public meeting in East Boston early next month. |
| March 22, 2007
| Groundwater levels in the area of depressed readings along Porter Street and Visconti Road have been increasing slowly for the last few months. Hopefully this is a result of the repairs done by MWRA, with the slowness of the increase due to lack of recharge through the hard surfaces in the area. |
| April 23, 2007
| There will be a meeting in May to discuss potential actions that could be taken to address low groundwater levels in the Paris Flats area of East Boston. |
| May 14, 2007
| Jim Hunt, Nancy Grilk, and I met with Councilor LaMattina and a group of East Boston residents on May 11 to discuss the groundwater problem in that neighborhood and potential next steps. We will probably meet again soon with the Councilor to discuss the potential extension of the modified GCOD to affected areas of East Boston. |
| January 27, 2011
| Groundwater levels in the area near Porter Street and Visconti Road where MWRA has removed a sewer line from its network as part of their overall replumbing of the area and filled in the pipe continue to rise. Many of the wells show increases of 3 feet or more from their formerly consistently low readings. |
| March 24, 2011
| Groundwater levels in wells along near Porter Street and Visconti Road have risen as much as six feet since MWRA completed their new sewer system in the area and filled in the old sewer pipe under Porter Street in September. |
| April 29, 2011
| Groundwater levels in wells along near Porter Street and Visconti Road have risen as much as six feet since MWRA completed their new sewer system in the area and filled in the old sewer pipe under Porter Street in September. The one well where there has not been an improvement is at the intersection of Porter and Breman Streets; MWRA will take another look at their infrastructure there to see if there could be a problem. |
