Once completed, the integration of a pump station at the ArtFarm complex is expected to alleviate a major portion of the city’s flooding problems.

By Alex Reidy

A virtual community meeting to introduce the Poplar Street Pump Station preliminary design and its integration with the ArtFarm project was held on Wednesday, April 14.

What is ArtFarm? According to the City of Somerville’s website, ArtFarm is “a self-sustaining art and urban agriculture laboratory designed to foster community engagement and creativity” and “will serve as a park, urban agriculture site, and arts hub featuring the ArtFarm community center with performance and exhibit spaces.”

It is made up of various components: a greenhouse, a rain garden, a plaza, and the pump station itself that is in the works to be built with four tenants, to be followed by the concluding construction of the ArtFarm development, Arts/Cultural Entertainment, Community Unity, Environmental Sustainability, and Economic Development. But since work stalled during the pandemic, much work is still needed to be done.

The pump station is of the highest importance and is needed as it connects to most of the major flows in Somerville and would be key to putting a stop flooding. The city has been working to fix these obstacles that are being caused by floods, and one of the major improvements is coming via the MBTA Green line expansion.

As they are improving their own drainage, it helps Somerville as well because of funding allocated to the MBTA, a condition of a $50 million contribution. Objectives of the pump station include discharging stormwater to the Millers River, activate the city’s new drainage connection with the MBTA, protect water quality and, of course, to integrate into the ArtFarm project.

The concept of the underground pump station involves submersible pumps that would flow around 50 million gallons of water a day, and a storage tank that holds around four million gallons.

The inside of the building would have a debris management system along with odor control and these would all integrate with the shed of the ArtFarm. The infrastructure around the building would also be “green” in that it would try to have as much foliage and grass as possible, even on top of the buildings.

ArtFarm is dedicated to combining both artistic and agricultural forms of entertainment, with sites like the Festival Plaza that could host musical performances, and the Greenhouse and Community Garden.

How will this all integrate with the pump station? Since it will be mostly underground, its presence won’t be invasive and obtrusive and the parts that are above ground will become part of a green space, in which it blends in compatibly with the surrounding plaza and lawn areas.

As it stands, building the pump station would provide a large decrease in flooding after its construction is completed. It is scheduled to start construction very soon, and is expected to take at least three years to complete. More information can be found at https://voice.somervillema.gov/Poplar-ArtFarm.