The Weston Forest and Trail Association will resume its monthly walk schedule on Sunday, October 1, 2017. The walk will begin at 2:00 PM. Please meet at the Wellesley Street entrance to the MWRA aqueduct, parking under the MA Turnpike overpass or in the field across the street at #487. We will walk up the aqueduct to the Norumbega Reservoir to a lookout created when former conservation woodland was turned into the MWRA water storage tank. Part way around the reservoir we will cut into the woods along Glen Rd, following the Lombard trail back to the aqueduct and down to circle the fields of Wellington Farm. We will enjoy refreshments on a rock outcrop, looking out over the fields slated for protection by a conservation vote at town meeting in November before returning to our cars.
A map and more details about the area are shown below.
You do not have to be a member of the Weston Forest and Trail Association to join the walk, but please consider becoming a member. Your membership dues support the maintenance and preservation of Weston’s open space. Please bring your friends. Well behaved dogs are welcome but must be on leash.
For more information please contact the walk leader, Mary Ann Pappanikou, (EDIT: contact info removed after walk).
Map of walk area
Slideshow of the Norumbega tank
You can find out more information about the 110-million gallon tank built by the MWRA from 1999–2004 to supply water to Greater Boston at this MWRA page about the reservoir.
The EPA requires that drinking water supplies must be covered once the water has been treated. Since the treatment plant for the water coming to Boston from the Quabbin Reservoir is in Southborough, upstream of Weston, the MWRA had to build covered storage in Weston, adjacent to the open Norumbega Reservoir. This open reservoir is now offline and available for use only in case of an emergency.
The MWRA needed some 36 acres of Weston conservation land to build the tank and compensated our Town with 12 acres of land adjacent to the Weston Reservoir, plus $3 million. Some of that money was used to purchase the Sunday Woods, a 24-acre parcel adjacent to Concord Road and the old rail line. This is now a part of our protected open space. Find out more about the MWRA covered storage here.