Concerns that untreated stormwater runoff from the needle-strewn Mass and Cass is polluting the Harbor has prompted the city to apply for a grant from the CDC to monitor for communicable diseases.
Catch basins in that notorious encampment drain into the Fort Point Channel where fishing and kayaking remain popular right across from the Children’s Museum — a sobering fact that has lawmakers and advocates alarmed.
“We have recently learned that catch basins in the area known as Mass & Cass dump right out into Boston Harbor via the Fort Point Channel without any filtration,” a group of lawmakers said in a letter sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
That letter, obtained by the Herald, adds: “Due to the public health concerns that illicit narcotics, including fentanyl, and infectious disease (pose) we believe this grant is an essential part of understanding how severe the public health and environmental impact and risks are.”
Both the Boston Water and Sewer Commission and Boston Public Health Commission acknowledged the grant application to the CDC’s Center for Outbreak Analytics and Disease Modeling. Both agencies added “background” points on the Fort Point Channel issue, with one bullet point saying fentanyl fentanyl was not part of the proposed monitoring.
But others stress the pollution flowing into the channel — where an estimated 10% of all the city’s runoff dumps into — is shocking.
“We need to be able to warn people that you shouldn’t be in kayaks or fishing,” said Chris Mancini, executive director of Save the Harbor Save the Bay. “When you get all this rain you get bacteria.” He also wants to know what “risks” come from “disease and pharmaceuticals” from the Mass and Cass area.
Mancini said told the Herald “it’s a big issue,” especially 24 to 48 hours after a rainstorm when the overflow is at its peak. “We also need to learn more about the opioid epidemic,” he added.
The grant will help the city test the Fort Point Channel water. It’s the same science behind what has proven instrumental in the fight against the COVID pandemic. Wastewater does serve as an advance warning system.
Tom Ready, head of the Fort Point Channel Neighborhood Association, said he’s “extremely concerned” about overflows this year — adding there’s been a dozen in the last 60 days.
“It isn’t apparent that the state is conducting frequent enough water testing, and there seem to be issues with timely and effective notifications from the city. We have requested improvements for both of these aspects,” he told the Herald. “The kayakers, paddle boarders, dragon boat teams and open rowing teams deserve better.”
The city Water and Sewer agency said in a written statement that “catch basins provide some pretreatment for stormwater” before it flows into the Harbor. Yet the agency added it “does not regularly test the water in Fort Point Channel.”
The EPA does and the most recent grade for water quality in the channel was a D- in 2020. The year before it was also a D-.
All other grades for Harbor sites rate As or a B and B+ for the “Mystic mouth,” according to an MWRA chart consolidating water grades.
Water and Sewer added projects are in the works to improve drainage. The Boston Public Health Commission, also in a statement, said the COVID-19 monitoring in the city does not include “surface waters of Boston Harbor.”
As for what else might be lurking on the channel, the health commission said the grant “is specific to communicable diseases and could not be used to track fentanyl or any other type of substance.”
But, the lawmakers added in their letter, “urgent attention” is desperately needed to get answers ahead of a crisis.
