Groundwater decline and the preservation of property in Boston

There is a slow-motion disaster underway below the city of Boston. The levels of groundwater have been steadily decreasing over the past eighty years and the structural integrity of the city's older buildings is in jeopardy. Buildings located on Boston's made land that were constructed prior to 1900 were supported with wood pilings. Wood pilings remain strong so long as they are submerged in groundwater. When exposed to air, the wood decays and buildings can eventually collapse. Repairing rotted wood pilings is a substantial financial burden and is currently shouldered entirely by homeowners. State and local governments ignored the city's pilings problem for decades, but in the last eighteen months the city's groundwater issues have surfaced prominently on political agendas. The city, state and community members are now working collaboratively to implement solutions that will increase the level of groundwater throughout the city, and a window of opportunity has opened in which lasting policies can be passed that protect buildings from further damage. The solutions to the city's groundwater problem are theoretically simple: more water must enter the ground and stay there, and rotted pilings must be repaired.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2006

Author dc:creator

• Shoham, Tamar

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Anne Whiston Spirn.

• Urban Studies and Planning.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/37467

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/37467