New Wastewater, Storm Water and Land Use Regulations

New Wastewater and Storm Water and Land Use Regulations Available

Cambridge, MA, June 30th, 2021 --The City of Cambridge has updated its Wastewater and Storm water Drainage Use Regulations and Land Disturbance Regulations effective June 30th.   These Regulations were initially established in 2008 and these updates will align the regulations with recent revisions to EPA and MWRA requirements and DPW procedures.  

Updates include discharge requirements for sanitary sewer holding tanks, control of non-storm water discharges to limited capacity drainage systems, EPA’s requirements for the use of Low Impact Development designs and removal of Total Suspended Solids and Total Phosphorous from storm water runoff, and for consistency with changes to MWRA’s Sewer Use Regulations regarding reclaimed water systems, oil/water separators and grease traps.

The Cityis also in the process of updating its Wastewater and Storm water Management Guidance.  Since the full update to the Guidance Manual will not be available until FY2022 DPW has issued a June 2021 Supplemental Directive to the Guidance Manual as an interim step to inform project proponents and the public of requirements that are already in place relative to water quality and quantity, Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) and design storm requirements. 

To learn more about DPW’s efforts under the EPA stormwater management requirements see our new video about the Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4).