Board of Health joins effort to keep Charles River clean, signs letter to Governor Healey denouncing sewage overflows 

At its April 22 meeting, the Board of Health voted to join the Charles River Watershed Association in its advocacy for a clean and swimmable Charles River. 

The board will participate by signing a letter addressed to Governor Maura Healey denouncing a new sewer control plan that allows for sewage discharge into the Charles, the Mystic River and Alewife Brook.

The plan was approved by the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority’s board of directors in February, and will next go to state and federal environmental regulators for final approval. 

The letter, adapted from a CRWA template, urges Healey to reject the MWRA’s plan. It also references health complications caused by exposure to contaminated rivers and warns that progress made in recent years to clean the Charles could be lost. 

In its correspondence to Director of Public Health Michelle Feeley, CRWA suggested that Waltham’s board collaborate with the City Council on a resolution condemning sewage discharges into the Charles. 

CRWA also invited the board to join a coordinated comment effort during the upcoming public comment period, which is expected to begin after the plan is submitted to regulators. 

In other action, the board: 

• Approved a lifeguard-free pool at the Alexan apartment complex.
• Issued tobacco violations to Kev’s Kwik Mart, A1 Corner Market, Gordon’s Fine Wine & Liquors, Michoacan Market and Veronica’s. Penalties range from $1,000 to $2,000 and between three- and five-day suspensions of tobacco sales, depending on whether the retailer has received a violation before. The suspended sales will occur between April 27 and April 29, except for A1, where sales are suspended from April 27 to May 1.
• Tabled tobacco violation hearings for Blue Moon Smoke Shop and SafeHouse Vapors until their next meeting, because representatives for the retailers did not show up.