THE EVERETT ADVOCATE – FRiDAy, OCTObER 23, 2026 Page 7 ~ Letter to the Editor ~ Everett Must Act Now to End Sewage Pollution A s the landmark Clean Water Act turns fifty-four this month, we have arrived at yet another democratic inflection point in the history of clean water in Greater Boston. Decisions made over the next months will determine the next 50 years of controls on sewage pollution in our rivers. Everyone has a chance to weigh in, and you should too. Sewage pollution — yes, hundreds of millions of gallons of raw and partially-treated sewage — is still a routine problem for communities along the Mystic and Charles Rivers and Alewife Brook. In some old local pipe systems, water from toilets and rainwater are carried in the same pipe. When those pipes reach capacity during intense storms, which happens frequently, the pipe systems overfl ow directly into rivers in events called combined sewer overfl ows (CSOs). The most recent discharges just happened over Indigenous Peoples Day weekend. This is happening right in your backyard. Nine CSO pipes empty into the lower basin of the Charles River, one empties into the Mystic near Somerville’s Assembly Row, and six dump sewage into Alewife Brook near the Alewife MBTA station. Malden Catholic High School Announces Sports Hall of Fame Inductees O Name 2001 Lacrosse Team 2016 Hockey Team Mark “Roo” Adams Jr. ‘10 Thomas Arria, Jr. Anthony DeSouza ‘16 Michael DiCato ‘05 Michael DiMare ‘07 Ian Dolaher ‘16 Brian Endicott ‘01 Sean Endicott ‘04 Ralph “Buddy” Goodwin ‘74 Christopher Labriola ‘08 Jason Lewis ‘06 Quinn McDonough ‘10 Jeremy Powers ‘01 Steven Richard ‘03 Sport Inducted Lacrosse Hockey Hockey Special Contributor Baseball Baseball Hockey Track and Field Lacrosse Lacrosse Hockey Baseball Soccer Football Lacrosse Baseball Since 1932, Malden Catholic High School has produced exceptional scholars and leaders in our community. Students thrive in Malden Catholic’s codivisional model, which off ers the best of both worlds: single-gender classrooms during the day and integrated extracurriculars after school. The learning experience at Malden Catholic is intentionally designed to improve individual growth mindset, leadership principles, and academic outcomes. We’re known for our rigorous courses, SFX Scholars Program, and award-winning STEM curricula. Across all our programs, we strive to instill in our students the Xaverian values of trust, humility, compassion, simplicity, and zeal. https://www.maldencatholic.org OCT 31 EVERETT REC CENTER , 4 7 EL M ST. SA TURD A Y ANNUAL n behalf of the Athletic Department and the entire Malden Catholic community, we are thrilled to announce the Hall of Fame Committee’s selections of the Class of 2026 Brother Daniel Cremin, C.F.X., Malden Catholic Athletics Hall of Fame. HALLOWEEN PARTY Y 2 : 3 0– 5 PM Water moves. Alewife Brook is a major tributary of the Mystic River. Overfl ows in Cambridge and Somerville expose downstream communities to sewage pollution, including in Everett. And what happens in the Charles River aff ects everyone who visits or uses the Esplanade and the Charles River Basin. Your voice makes a difference. Working with Cambridge and Somerville, the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA) — the state agency that sends water to your faucet and fl ushes waste out of your house — published a draft plan earlier this year. The problem is, it doesn’t go far enough. Instead of eliminating CSOs, the plan allows them to continue regularly for decades to come. And this problem will only get worse with climate change. Public comments are due on October 30th. It’s a rare chance for you — as a person who lives, works, or plays around our rivers — to express offi - cially and in writing what your stance is on Greater Boston’s most important clean water issue in a way that local, state, and federal leaders have to read and respond to. At the Mystic River Watershed Association, we have our own arguments for why the current plan doesn’t go far enough, and why we think these are resources worth protecting. We think our rivers deserve CSO elimination. But we need your voice, too, to speak up for the rivers and for your communities. We urge you to reject the current Draft Plan and demand the elimination of CSOs in our waterways. Visit www.mysticriver.org/ csos to learn how to submit comments. Patrick Herron, Executive Director for the Mystic River Watershed Association Arlington, MA
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