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City, institutions, private citizens, and public agencies have
each worked toward mitigating damages associated with dewatering
in Boston. The following efforts have been used to address groundwater
subsidence:
• Permanent Recharge Systems – Copley
Square, the Boston Public Library, and Trinity Church have
each implemented
permanent recharge systems that collect surface drainage
from precipitation and collect in drywells and reverse drains.
Water
seeps back into
the ground through a reverse piping system.
1. Trinity Church installed conductors that collect water from
the roof gutters and channel it into a brick lined pit in the basement
2. Boston Public Library – installed a recharge system along
Dartmouth St in the mid 1950’s
3. Copley Square – With the Sasaki redesign of Copley Sq,
a third recharge system was installed below the plaza
• Siphons – Pipes were placed beneath the Marginal
Conduit and Boylston Street subway tunnel in order to carry groundwater
from one side of the structure to the other and to reduce the
dam effect. Unfortunately, the pipes become clogged with silt.
Subsequent
groundwater drops in the areas indicate that the siphons have
been unsuccessful in their efforts to stem the fall of groundwater
in
the area.
• Public Sector Response –
1. The City of Boston created and continues to fund the Boston
Groundwater Trust. The Trust installed and monitors over 300
wells throughout the city and works closely with the Groundwater
Emergency Task Force and neighborhood groups – including
the Beacon Hill Civic Association, Boston Back Bay Association,
Beacon Hill Civic Association, Ellis South End Neighborhood Association,
Fenway CDC, Greater Boston Real Estate Board, and Neighborhood
Association of the Back Bay – to promote more responsible
groundwater management in all affected neighborhoods.
2. The BRA is advancing proposals for a Groundwater Overlay District
in Boston that will restrict development within sensitive neighborhoods.
3. The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority is paying $35,000
a year to pump water back into the ground in the city's South End,
where its Orange Line subway tunnel is thought to be leaking.
•
Litigation – In Trinity Church v. John Hancock (1987), construction
of the Hancock Tower was found to be liable for damage to Trinity
Church. The suit awareded Trinity Church the “reasonable
costs of restoring the church to the condition it was prior to
the Hancock excavation.”
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