THE LYNN Water and Sewer Commission officially completed a $120 million project this month that separated the city’s stormwater and sewer systems in West Lynn, improving water quality in the Saugus River and Lynn Harbor. The move is one of multiple citywide efforts to restore Lynn’s long-polluted waterfront and unlock investment.
Combined sewer overflows (CSOs) have long been an issue in older communities with aged infrastructure.
A collection of cities on the North Shore (and across the Commonwealth) have historically combined sewer systems where both wastewater and stormwater come through shared pipes. During heavy rains — which are becoming more frequent due to climate change — the excess flow bypasses the treatment plants where it is supposed to be cleaned and is instead discharged into local bodies of water to prevent backups in people’s homes.
“For decades, Lynn has not been able to enjoy the waterfront that it could and that it should,” Mayor Jared Nicholson said during a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the project. “Knowing that we have the sewer separation we need for that water to be to our standards gives us great confidence.”
CSOs are a challenge few communities have been able to eliminate, and they are hardly unique to Lynn. There are more than 40 CSO sites along the Charles River, Mystic River, Alewife Brook, and Boston Harbor. Other communities also struggle with overflows, including Holyoke, Chicopee, and Springfield on the Connecticut River and Lowell on the Merrimack River. Watershed advocates have called on the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority to do more to eliminate CSOs, particularly on the Charles and Mystic rivers. But separating the systems comes with complicated engineering challenges and therefore higher costs. Stretches of road and ground often need to be torn up, heavily disrupting communities.
“It’s helpful to remind people that yes, you have to rip up roads, and yes, that does stink. That is a problem,” said Chris Mancini, executive director of the nonprofit advocacy organization Save the Harbor/Save the Bay. “But it’s temporary, and the benefits are going to be, if not permanent, really long lasting.”
The promise of cleaner water is likely to attract more investment in West Lynn, particularly along the South Harbor where industrial cleanup projects have already helped transform the waterfront. The city rolled out its South Harbor Implementation Plan in 2024, highlighting the neighborhood as Lynn’s biggest opportunity for economic growth, calling it “ripe for redevelopment.”
CSO pollution has violated the federal Clean Water Act for years. In 2017, the Lynn Water and Sewer Commission entered into a legally binding performance improvement plan established with the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the US Justice Department to improve water quality in the Saugus River, Lynn Harbor, and other bodies of water. The West Lynn sewer separation project was initiated in response to that agreement, with design work beginning in 2018.
The project was funded through Clean Water State Revolving Fund loans, a federal-state partnership that offers low-interest financing and loan forgiveness to low-income communities like Lynn where nearly 14 percent of residents live below the poverty line. The city has now separated approximately 260 acres of combined sewer pipes and built more than 26,000 linear feet of new storm drain infrastructure. A 92-million-gallon-per-day stormwater pump station was also constructed.
More than two decades ago, the water and sewer commission separated the sewer and stormwater systems in East Lynn, improving water quality at King’s Beach while other sections of the city remained unseparated. The waterfront in West Lynn was heavily industrialized and vacant for decades, making the effects of CSOs less noticeable there.
But now, that tainted stretch of coastline is transforming. Some have compared the development of Lynn’s South Harbor to the technology-driven redevelopment of Boston’s wealthy Seaport District, which has resulted in a mostly high-income, white neighborhood on a previously underutilized waterfront. Nicholson has said making the growth on the waterfront inclusive has been a top priority for the city.
The Lynn Harbor Park, which underwent a separate years-long environmental remediation effort, opened to the public in July 2025. Spanning 22 acres, the park sits on a failed municipal landfill that was originally a coal-fired power plant and was close to collapsing and releasing waste into the harbor.
As the Lynn Harbor Park project neared completion, investors came flocking. Two major waterfront housing developments have been established on abutting parcels of land — one of which is the largest private investment in the city’s history.
At a projected $450 million, Samuels & Associates is planning to build 850 units of much-needed housing and 26,000 square feet of commercial space for restaurant and retail use on the South Harbor site at 830 Lynnway. It will also include an eight-acre public park and promenade.
“In the next two decades, there’s going to be a whole new city there,” Mancini said. “For a long time, the rivers and the harbors were the dumping ground. That’s completely reversed now. We’re not building industry on the water anymore. We’re building parks and museums and housing.”
