Katherine Clark Tours Waltham Embassy Parking Lot Project

WALTHAM, MA — Assistant Speaker Katherine Clark toured the Waltham Embassy Parking Lot on Wednesday, one of the ten community projects in the Fifth Congressional District that recently received federal funding.

Clark secured $280,000 for the Waltham Embassy Parking Lot project as part of the FY 2022 federal budget, which includes over $11 million for projects within the district to improve everything from water infrastructure and climate resiliency to public transit and health care access.

“The funding I secured for these projects responds directly to the needs of our local community, and I was honored to join local officials in celebrating this important step forward,” said Clark. "I know we’ve been through a lot in the last two years but every day I’m working in Congress to build a stronger, healthier community and a more sustainable planet – and I’m proud to say that these projects do just that.”

The federal funding will be used for the design and construction of a green infrastructure retrofit of the Waltham Embassy Parking Lot. This retrofit design, which includes the installation of small, strategically located bioretention areas and infiltration trenches, will improve aesthetics and the quality of stormwater discharging into the Charles River in a cost-effective way.

“The biggest challenge to our river is stormwater runoff,” said Charles River Watershed Association (CRWA) Executive Director Emily Norton.“Paved surface roads are great for driving – they’re not great for rivers because when it rains or snows, and the snow melts, that rainwater carries all of the junk that’s on the road into the river untreated. Several years ago, this was just a partnership with the city, creating a design we didn’t have the funding to build. We needed the partnership of the federal government and our Congresswoman, Katherine Clark, to provide the funding to actually build it. We are incredibly, incredibly grateful to the partnership of Waltham and Congresswoman Clark at a time when we really need it.”

For a full list of Massachusetts projects included in the FY 2022 budget, click here.