Burlington Celebrates Milestone Connection with MWRA

The Town of Burlington hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the Vine Brook Water Treatment to celebrate the completed connection to the MWRA, a new source of water in a town with a history of seasonal restrictions.

An extensive collaborative effort between the Town of Burlington, Lexington, and the Burlington Area Chamber of Commerce, led to a significant improvement in the region’s water infrastructure. The extension of the MWRA water main through Lexington to Burlington connects the community to the country's highest quality water, voted on by. 



BACC members including Lahey Hospital & Medical Center, Nordblom Company, The Gutierrez Company, Oracle, Wegman’s, Boston Marriott Burlington, National Development, and Riemer and Braunstein showed their support for the MWRA connection and played vital roles in moving the process forward.



The Burlington Area Chamber of Commerce was also essential in working with the Town to spearhead the effort to secure the MassWorks grant. The Town understood the practical need for better access to reliable water supplies and the BACC was able to mobilize the Town's private sector partners, and was able to contribute funds to be able to hire a consultant (April Anderson), who played a vital role in the materialization of the project. In addition, the state’s MassWorks Grant helped to make this project come to fruition.

The connection will provide Burlington with approximately 3.5 million gallons of water per day, and allow the decommissioning of the Vine Brook treatment plan. The new water source will be helpful for the town all year round, but especially at times when the supply is under stress from a lack of rain. This substantial endeavor ensures a reliable water supply and alleviates issues that had previously impeded Burlington’s potential for growth in recent times.

This infrastructure investment catalyzes transformative projects that will shape Burlington’s future landscape. So far, two significant commercial ventures have been made possible by the vital MWRA water connection: the 25-27 Blue Sky Drive Life Sciences Laboratory Building and the 4th Avenue Multi-Family Residential Project. 



Lt. Governor Kim Driscoll: As a former local official, to see an investment and infrastructure that’s not only going to serve communities today, but allow for the continued growth and vitality of the community, it’s really important. And this one has been just a long time coming, with, as we heard from some of the presenters, emergency declarations, trying to cobble together the system you need to deliver the water that so many people rely on, well you don’t have to do that anymore, and you’re also going to have much higher quality water, and it was a real partnership between the state, local government, business community, all recognizing a need, and then doing what they had to do to meet it, so it’s pretty special.