Monitoring wells detected unprecedented high temperatures in the groundwater in Boston’s Leather District, prompting resident fears of damage to building foundations. Photo by Steve Adams | Banker & Tradesman Staff
Boston city councilors scheduled a hearing this week to investigate recent utility failures in Chinatown and the Leather District, where data indicates changing subsurface conditions including high groundwater temperatures.
As Banker & Tradesman reported in July, the Boston Groundwater Trust has measured groundwater temperatures as high as 158 degrees at a monitoring well on Atlantic Avenue, raising concerns about potential damage to buildings.
A series of water main breaks in Chinatown also have highlighted Boston’s aging subsurface utilities, City Councilor Ed Flynn said. The council has invited Boston Water and Sewer Commission officials and executives from Vicinity Energy to testify.
“There are concerns about the old infrastructure in Chinatown and the Leather District, and the impact it is now having on quality of life, but also public health and public safety,” Flynn said in an interview. “Residents want to learn more about what the city is going to do to address outdated infrastructure and how we are going to work with some of these companies to provide services that are needed. Water and sewer pipes are critical infrastructure.”
The council’s Committee on City Services and Innovation Technology scheduled a hearing for 6 p.m. on Tuesday at the Josiah Quincy Upper School.
The close proximity of water and sewer pipes with a Vicinity Energy steam pipe on Atlantic Avenue has been investigated as a potential cause of rising groundwater temperatures in the Leather District.
Vicinity Energy installed temporary pumps outside of a condominium building at 717 Atlantic Ave. to remove excess groundwater, after the Boston Groundwater Trust measured temperatures as high as 158 degrees in a nearby monitoring well. The Groundwater Trust measures groundwater levels and temperatures across the city to identify potential conditions that could damage building foundations.
Vicinity’s plant on Kneeland Street generates steam heat that supplies heat to buildings in several neighborhoods through a network that includes a 24-inch pipe that runs down Atlantic Avenue.
The company is marketing the electrically-produced steam that flows through these pipes to numerous downtown landlords as a way to meet Boston’s and Cambridge’s decarbonization rules.
According to a resident, the Leather District problem materialized after developer Hines broke ground on its 51-story South Station Tower project, which included excavation to a depth of 150 feet.
A series of water main breaks have plagued nearby Chinatown in recent years, most recently in March when a pipe burst in an apartment on Hudson Street.
In August 2023, a 12-inch water main burst at Harrison Avenue and Beach streets, flooding nearby roads. And in September 2022, a burst water main buckled sidewalks and flooded Washington Street in Chinatown.
“It’s uncertain right now what is causing this, but we need to hear directly from the city and from any utility companies as well,” Flynn said. “We have water pipes that are bursting frequently in Chinatown, probably more so than in any other neighborhood.”
