A 10-Million-Gallon Sewage Tank Under the Ball Fields? Cambridge Said No, All Nine of Them.

Cambridge spent over $10 million fixing up Magazine Beach. Now the state's water agency wants to put a sewage tank under it.

The Massachusetts Water Resources Authority proposed in April to build a 10-million-gallon storage tank under the playing fields, permanently fencing off about 2.3 acres and closing another eight acres for construction for at least six years, The Harvard Crimson reported. It's part of the MWRA's $1.3 billion plan to cut combined sewer overflows into the Charles.

On Tuesday, all nine city councilors co-sponsored and unanimously passed a resolution against it, urging the MWRA to "develop alternative plans" and pointing to the Cottage Farm facility as one option. "If we're going to have a fight with someone, this is the fight we should have," Councilor Tim Flaherty said.

The goal is right. Nobody wants sewage in the river. But the fix is a giant tank under a park the city just paid to rebuild. The Charles River Watershed Association says storage doesn't fix the real problem, which is old pipes carrying storm water and sewage together.

What we still don't know: whether the MWRA moves the tank after the Oct. 30 comment deadline, and what an alternative site would cost.