First the forest, Now the river
Location: academic center of the world- Cambridge Massachusetts

We Cambridge, Belmont and Arlington citizens wish to express our environmental concerns for safety, health and climate adaptation needs in regards to the Upper Alewife Basin, focused on Little River, based on Horsley and Witten Technical Analysis report of 2006 and the water quality testing results of the Mystic River Watershed Association over 15 years and the City of Cambridge recently. In 2015, seven Variances given by EPA and DEP since 1998 have hardly improved the levels of Cambridge river-length bacteria which fail all scientific water quality standards (See Congress Clean Water Act from 1972). While thousands of units have been built adjacent to the Alewife MBTA, and another 2 thousand are planned for the quadrangle near Fresh Pond on top of the former city dump. The dump still exudes gases and other ground contaminants, and the newly planned development storm water discharges will go into Little River. We call on the city to meet the federal court order with MWRA for 85 percent improvement, and comply with federal NPDES regulations, and to refrain from granting more permits until an extensive regional storm water plan is in place to upgrade and sustain the water quality of Little River. This regional effort must include plans with the town of Belmont in order for the River to attain Grade B standards of the EPA. We also request that it's name, "Little River", be changed to "Menotomy River", its original name.

Ellen Mass