Conceptual Solutions
The Boston Water and Sewer Commission intends to address all coastal flood vulnerable outfalls. The following projects are conceptual solutions developed for an initial group of vulnerable outfalls as a starting point; additional projects are in earlier stages of design, as described in the Implementation Timeline. Several different types of concepts have been developed, spanning four different solution categories:
Storage
Concepts of this type include space for stormwater to be collected during wet weather events when outfalls cannot drain properly by gravity.
Nature Based Solutions
Concepts of this type use a variety of methods to use the natural environment (e.g. ponds or basins) to store stormwater during wet weather events. Concepts of this type can be combined with Conveyance and Pumping for increased benefit.
Pumping
Concepts of this type include one or more pumps used to move water to the ocean when outfalls are unable to function by gravity.
Conveyance
Concepts of this type include diverting flow away from vulnerable outfalls to consolidate flow to one solution (e.g. storage or pumping) and / or diverting high elevation stormwater flows directly to the ocean, if they are able to drain by gravity.
This map shows the locations of outfalls included in the 11 conceptual designs developed for the Coastal Stormwater Discharge Analysis.
