The Longwood Collective, a nonprofit that connects institutions for climate resilience projects in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area, has broken ground on a new green infrastructure project.
The Avenue Louis Pasteur Bioswale Pilot Project is designed to make one of Boston’s most flood-prone corridors more resilient to storm surges and runoff pollution.
Launched in partnership with the City of Boston and the Boston Water and Sewer Commission, with support from Simmons University, Charles River Watershed Association, and Northeastern University, the drainage infrastructure added by the project will serve as a test case for future stormwater management initiatives across the district.
Abby Oliveira, the Longwood Collective’s senior land use and sustainability planner, said the project is the culmination of several years of collaborative planning between the many partners.
The project, which broke ground on September 30 and is expected to be completed sometime this week, includes two different filtration systems. Comparative data points gathered over the next several years will help climate resilience experts understand the best case uses for each drainage system for future projects.
“There’s the above-ground rain garden, which I think most people are more familiar with, where it mimics a natural water system by filtering the water through the vegetation and soil before it reaches the groundwater,” Oliveira said. “And then there’s the below ground filtration system to reduce the pollution before it reaches the Boston Water and Sewer pipes out into the Muddy River.”
The Bioswale project is located at the Avenue Louis Pasteur intersection with the Fenway and stretches about 50 yards down the block past the entrance to Simmons’ library.
The project was partially funded through the city’s Edward Ingersoll Browne Fund, which awarded $100,000 toward its construction. Longwood Collective contributed additional funds to complete the effort.
Soil and runoff testing over the next three years will be completed through a partnership with Simmons University, Northeastern University, and the Charles River Watershed Association.
“Water
testing was already done to have some pre-construction data, and then
we’ll be doing testing in several different formats. Collecting data
after rainfalls or heavy precipitation events throughout different
seasons,” Oliveira said. “By this time next year, we’ll have two or
three larger data sets that will help inform what we can do in the
future. That’s where our Open Space and Resilience Framework really
comes into play.”
The
Bioswale project is the first major implementation of the Longwood
Collective’s Open Space and Resilience Framework, a comprehensive
climate resilience plan for the Longwood Medical and Academic Area. The
framework serves as a guide and prioritization tool for climate
resilience projects in the area, for which the collective serves as the
connective tissue between the many public and private institutions
invested in climate resiliency in the area.
“We
look at six different focus areas for how we’re looking to gain
resilience over the next 5 to 20 years, green infrastructure, our tree
canopy, connecting our open space network, advancing sustainable
development, expanding our beautification program and reducing fossil
fuel dependence,” Oliveira said. “We convene all the different partners
that are interested in this, and we can also act as project managers on a
lot of this work.”