Reading To Receive $2 Million State Grant For Stormwater Project

READING, MA — Efforts to reduce flooding around the Aberjona River in Reading got a boost this week when the state awarded a roughly $2.1 million grant to support planned stormwater work at the Maillet, Sommes & Morgan Conservation Land in town.

Located between Willow Street and Lowell Street, the conservation land is the site of a system of planned projects that will aim to capture and slow the force of runoff into the Aberjona River. The projects look to do this by diverting sudden rushes of stormwater into new storage areas within what the town has described as “constructed stormwater wetlands.”

This project is currently in its conceptual design phase. In addition to flood mitigation, the project will aim to improve open space offerings and expand existing path and trail opportunities in the area, according to a town statement. The project will also strengthen wildlife habitats, the town said this week.

Improvements in Reading could have downstream effects, the town continued, filtering sediments and pollutants out of collected stormwater before that water flows further into the river. In addition to Reading, the Aberjona River also runs through parts of Winchester and Woburn.

Reading’s grant comes as part of $32.6 million in state funding for local communities through the Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness program.

It also comes alongside efforts by U.S. Representatives Seth Moulton, Katherine Clark and Ayanna Pressley to secure an additional $12.2 million for the project through the 2023 Fiscal Year federal budget. If that federal money does come, the town said on Tuesday, Reading will be left with $1.5 million in costs that it will need to pay as part of this project.

Moulton was in Reading earlier this month to tour the Maillet, Sommes, Morgan site.

He touted the project at the time, calling it a “critical initiative that will make the community more sustainable and resilient.”