by Laura Jasinski
Boston Business Journal
What is the Charles River worth? Ask the family who spends a Saturday afternoon along its banks in Cambridge. Ask the thousands of people who use its paths to exercise, gather, commute or simply spend time outside. Ask the runner who clears her head along the Esplanade after a stressful day. Ask the rower who trains on its waters in Watertown at sunrise. Ask the businesses, universities, neighborhoods and developers that benefit from having one of the region’s most beautiful public spaces at their doorstep. It is difficult to put a price tag on those experiences.
While there is a lot of attention right now on what it will cost to clean up the Charles River, there should be just as much attention on what the river is worth.
As the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA) considers the river’s future, the question is not simply what it will cost to protect the Charles, but what we stand to gain by investing in an asset that contributes to the health and vitality of the entire region.
The MWRA is in the midst of an important public process (within protracted legal negotiations) to determine how Greater Boston will address combined sewer overflows, or CSOs, that can send a mixture of stormwater and wastewater into the Charles and other urban waterways during heavy storms. The current draft plan includes significant investments to reduce those discharges, but would allow some overflows to continue.
That has prompted the Boston City Council to adopt a resolution opposing the current draft plan and call for stronger infrastructure, and the Cambridge City Council to issue a policy order for the city to advocate for a stronger level of CSO control and virtual CSO elimination by 2050.
Now, with public hearings underway and the public comment period open through Friday, Oct. 30, the region has an opportunity to weigh in on what comes next. The conversation will has been focused on engineering, affordability, and ratepayer impacts. But noticeably absent has been another critical economic question: What is the return on investing in a clean, healthy Charles River?
We already know the answer is more than cleaner water.