Meeting Purpose
The meeting was organized by State Representative Will Brownsberger, Selectman Clarissa Rowe and DCR to facilitate communication between the Arlington-Belmont-Cambridge Tri-Community Working Group on Flooding Issues and the engineers responsible for the Amelia Earhart Dam study funded last year. The special concern was to assure that review of dam operating protocols for flood control purposes was part of the study.

Meeting Notice
The meeting was noticed by publication on the tri-community working group e-mail list. It was also posted publicly as a meeting of the tri-community working group through the usual public meeting notice channels in Belmont, Arlington and Cambridge.

Attending the Meeting:
Arlington Selectman, Clarissa Rowe
Arlington Town Engineer, Brian Rademacher
Arlington Town Manager, Brian Sullivan
Belmont DPW Director, Peter Castanino
Cambridge City Engineer, Owen O'Riordan
Citizen Engineer, Steve Kaiser
DCR Deputy Chief Engineer, Michael Misslin
DCR Director of Government Affairs, Rosemary Powers
DCR Flood Control Director, William Gode-von Aesch
DCR Legislative Liaison, Anne Roach
ENSR (Winchester), Michael Toohil
Mystic River Watershed Association, Roger Frymire
Office of Senator Pat Jehlen, Bob Fitzpatrick
State Representative, Will Brownsberger
State Representative, Stephen Smith
Winchester Engineering, Beth Rudolph

Summary of Meeting
The DCR engineers present (Misslin and Gode-von Aesch) were prepared to provide a full overview of flood control activities in the Alewife and Mystic River areas.
As a result, the meeting covered a number of activities in addition to the Amelia Earhart Dam study. The paragraphs below summarize major points made regarding each activity.

1. Amelia Earhart Dam capacity study: The DCR engineers reported that the study would be underway shortly and be finished as soon as July 2008. They said that it would likely recommend the addition of an additional pump, which seems needed for back up purposes and to create a margin of capacity to accommodate the recent increases in precipitation levels,. The pump design is standard and the total project is expected to cost on the order of $12 million. The possibility of a need on this order of magnitude has been communicated to the Commissioner of DCR. The three existing pumps have been recently re-furbished and can be expected to last for many more decades.
2. Amelia Earhart Dam operating protocol: The DCR engineers explained some of the complexities involved in changing operating protocols to provide for drawing down the Mystic to lower levels in advance of storm events – including navigation issues, exposure of possibly unattractive sediments, possible exposure of outfall pipes, possible mechanical limits on how low the dam's pumps can intake water, EPA and Corps of Engineers regulatory issues. They agreed, however, to include some preliminary examination of protocol definition in the capacity study. ENSR agreed to provide the DCR engineers with the scenario analysis regarding the upstream benefits of a draw-down near the dam. It was noted that upstream benefits of a draw-down do depend heavily on elimination of the obstructions at the Craddock.
3. Craddock Locks reconstruction: The DCR engineers stated that MassHighway was in charge of this reconstruction and that they were not certain on the timeline. [Subsequent to the meeting, Representative Brownsberger communicated with Representative Donato on this issue; Representative Donato reported that he had been in contact with MassHighway to bring this project forward from a scheduling standpoint and was hopeful for a construction start in 2009. He acknowledged the issue of assuring a good clear opening in the bridge for maximum flow and said that issue was definitely part of the design conversation.] Steve Kaiser suggested that the locks were not as much of a problem as believed or were not the only problem; others agreed, at least in the respect that other clearing, in addition to the Craddock reconstruction, might be helpful.
4. Upper Mystic Lake Dam: The DCR engineers confirmed high priority plans to substantially reconstruct the Upper Mystic Lake Dam. They expect to complete design in early 2009 and start construction late in 2009. In addition to making the structure sound, they plan to install a fish weir and remotely controlled sluice gates. The gates would allow them to draw the lake down in advance of major storms to provide some additional storage buffer.
5. Channel Maintenance: The DCR engineers said that routine debris removal belongs to DCR operations (under Urban Parks, Samantha Overton) and that they would communicate the local concerns and interest in the issue. They expressed a real willingness to entertain a conversation regarding dredging in Alewife and the Mystic, which would be beneficial to boaters and fish and might help improve water-quality (by removing hazardous sediments). They indicated that they would discuss this internally; there are no dredging plans at this time. It was suggested that a program of bank maintenance, to reduce the number of trees likely to fall in from erosion would be helpful and the engineers indicated that they would bring this back to the operations side.
6. Blair Pond Sedimentation: The DCR engineers reported that DCR's stormwater management group, headed by Robert Lowell, was planning to implement sedimentation controls in Blaire Pond and that funding was in place to do this. They expected to complete design to the point where they can begin permitting in 2008.
7. Larger Development Issues: The DCR engineers noted that the long-term increase in impervious surface in the area has led to more extreme flooding, as precipitation runs off more quickly. They suggested the need for a larger look at development and design policies in the watershed, to encourage more use of precipitation to recharge groundwater, rather than merely retaining it for later discharge.
8. Other measures to control flooding: The engineers mentioned that there were plans to reconstruct the Winthrop Street Bridge (Mass Highway) and the Mystic Valley Parkway Bridge (DCR). They are concerned to reflect the issue of maximizing clear opening in the redesign of these structures.
9. Gauging Stations: Owen O'Riordan urged DCR to consider installation of an additional stage and flow station on the Mystic, noting the heavy reliance on modeling to fill in a lack of good data regarding storm events in the Mystic. The engineers indicated concern about costs, as the USGS has been pushing more and more of the costs of existing stations back on the states.

Next Meeting: It was agreed that the group should reconvene in the summer or early Fall after the Amelia Earhart Dam study is available.

Will Brownsberger
State Representative, (617) 771-8274 (cell)
Visit www.willbrownsberger.com for news.