Mystic River Water Quality Score Downgraded to D- Despite ongoing efforts, analysis shows more work needed (MA)
(Boston, Mass. – May 15, 2011) –
At the Mystic River Watershed Association’s 15th annual
Herring Run & Paddle, EPA and the Mystic River Watershed
Association announced the fifth public reporting on the condition
of the Mystic River since kicking off a collaborative effort
addressing water quality issues in the urban river in 2006. This
year, the Mystic River Watershed received a grade of "D-" for the
calendar year 2010.
EPA New England joined community members and
environmental advocates at the Blessing of the Bay Boathouse in
Somerville, Mass. to announce the grade and celebrate the return of
the herring to the Mystic.
“Although our grade is not where we would
like it to be, we have solidified strong partnerships and defined a
set of priorities to improve water quality and open space,”
said Curt Spalding, regional administrator of EPA’s New
England office. “The fact is, this sort of effort isn’t
always easy. But we remain firmly committed to working with our
local partners to focus on improving water quality in this
important urban watershed.”
During the past two years (2008 and 2009) the
grade for the Mystic River Watershed’s water quality was C-.
The grade is based on bacterial contamination. The latest grade was
based on monitoring data over the past year showing that water
quality met swimming standards only 28 percent of the time, while
boating standards were met 70 percent of the time.
The announcement of this year’s grade
isn’t for a lack of effort to improve water quality
conditions in the watershed. Both EPA and MassDEP continue to issue
a number of enforcement actions targeted at improving water quality
in the Mystic Watershed. These enforcement efforts have resulted in
the removal of a number of illicit discharges of sewage to storm
drains throughout the watershed. Enforcement efforts have resulted
in the removal of over 12,000 gallons per day of sewage from storm
drains in the Mystic watershed, with numerous additional illicit
connections that have been identified scheduled to be removed this
year. These aggressive efforts continue to address violations of
water quality with regard to bacteria.
"MWRA is pleased to be moving forward with major
projects to address pollution problems in Alewife Brook," said
Frederick A. Laskey, MWRA executive director. "Working together
with the City of Cambridge, we will spend $112 million by 2015 to
reduce combined sewer overflows by over 450 million gallons a
year."
“This year’s grade for the Mystic
River Watershed, while disappointing is not a complete
surprise,” said EkOngKar Singh Khalsa, Executive Director of
the Mystic River Watershed Association. “MyRWA and its many
partners know that improving environmental conditions in the Mystic
River has been and will remain a long uphill battle. In recent
years there is substantially increased support from all
stakeholders within the watershed to make continued improvements in
water quality in this river system. As more and more people in
Mystic River communities recognize the value, importance and beauty
of this natural resource, pressure on regional policy makers and
stakeholders will increase to insure that water quality in the
Mystic River is restored and that the river is available for safe
boating and recreational uses, all the time.”
Long-term effort to improve this watershed will
be achieved through a collaborative effort amongst all
stakeholders. Earlier this spring, the Mystic River Watershed
Initiative Steering Committee signed onto a mission and set of
priorities that will guide its actions through 2012. The focus is
on water quality as well as open space and public access. The Water
Quality group intends to focus on reducing and eliminating sanitary
sewer overflows (SSOs) in the watershed, providing stormwater
technical assistance to municipalities, reducing nutrient inputs to
the watershed, and better understanding and remediating legacy
pollution in the Malden River area.
When assessing water quality to assign a grade
to the Mystic River Watershed, EPA uses similar criteria as for the
Charles River Initiative, as follows:
A – meet swimming and boating standards
nearly all of the time
B -- meet swimming and boating standards most of
the time
C -- meet swimming standards some of the time,
and boating standards most of the time
D -- meet swimming and boating standards some of
the time
F -- fail swimming and boating standards most of
the time
EPA's Administrator, Lisa Jackson, has made
environmental justice a clear priority. She has stated that
environmental justice “is not an issue we can afford to
relegate to the margins. It has to be part of our thinking in every
decision we make.” Environmental justice is an important
consideration in EPA New England’s urban rivers strategy and
is a clear objective of the Mystic River Watershed Steering
Committee.
In addition to today’s report card
announcement, EPA also announces its green infrastructure
partnership with the City of Chelsea. As part of a nation-wide
effort to encourage and support the expanded uses of green
infrastructure in partner communities, EPA Region 1 commends
Chelsea for being a green infrastructure leader in this watershed
by installing tree boxes along Chester Avenue and other low impact
stormwater mitigation strategies in their highly urbanized and
industrialized environment.
More Information: EPA’s Mystic River Web
site (www.epa.gov/mysticriver)
# # #