Mystic River
WATERSHED INITIATIVE
Working together to improve water quality, public
access and recreation throughout the watershed.
United States
Environmental Protection
,Agency
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WHAT IS THE INITIATIVE?
The Mystic River Watershed Initiative is a collaborative effort
with the goal to improve water quality and environmental
conditions as well as create and protect open space and
public access to the Mystic River and its tributaries through
safe public pathways and access points. The Initiative is guided
by a steering committee composed of 22 organizations
including not-for-profit communit;> groups, local, state, and
federal governmental agencies.
Accomplishments to Date
• In April 2008, EPA New England held a Mystic River
Watershed Summit that focused on Flooding, Industrial
Contaminants, Bacteria and Stormwater, and Reconnect-
ing people to the river. The summit was attended by over
150 people.
• EPA New England has loaned over $5,000 worth of
monitoring equipment to the Mystic River Watershed
Association in support of baseline and hot spot monitor-
ing programs.
• EPA enforcement efforts have stopped over 10,000 gallons
per day of sewage from being discharged to the water-
shed through illicit connections.
• The Steering Committee has formed two subcommit-
tees, and is in the process of forming a third, to focus
on more specific issues. There are currently science and
municipal subcommittees. These subcommittees have
held widely attended meetings and plan to support the
Steering Committee's efforts in any way possible. A business
subcommittee is in the early stages of formation.
• Massachusetts Environmental Trust awarded a total of
$508,500 to five projects to improve public access to
the Lower Mystic River through creating, expanding
or enhancing opportunities for biking, hiking, walking,
non-motorized boating, picnicking and other riverfront
outdoor public recreation in the Lower Mystic River Wa-
tershed. The grants are made possible by the purchase of
specialty environmental license plate fees, for which fund the
Massachusetts Environmental Trust
HISTORY
In 2006, EPA began working with Massachusetts Department
of Environmental Protection and the Mystic River Watershed
Association on monitoring and compliance activities and EPA
New England launched the first annual Mystic River Watershed
report card in 2007. In 2008 EPA New England held a
Summit on the watershed and launched a broader Initiative.
In early 2009, the Mystic River Watershed Steering Com-
mittee was created to allow environmental advocates, state
and federal regulators, and business and municipal leaders to
work collaboratively to promote actions that will improve en-
vironmental conditions throughout the watershed.
The goal of this collaborative effort is to help restore
and protect water quality and wildlife habitat, increase open
space and public access to and sustainable recreational use of
the river and its tributaries. The group plans to support these
goals by collaborating on activities that improve water qual-
ity, increase the level of environmental compliance, and raise
public awareness, understanding and access to information
about the Mystic River Watershed. Lastly, EPA New England
and the Steering Committee plan to address overarching
environmental justice concerns within the watershed.
WHY THE MYSTIC WATERSHED?
The Mystic River Watershed is a collection of rivers, streams,
lakes, and ponds that drain an area of approximately 76 sq.
miles and encompasses 21 municipalities north of Boston.
The Mystic River proper, which flows from the Mystic Lakes
in Winchester and Arlington through Medford, Somerville,
Everett, Charlestown and Chelsea to Boston Harbor, is one
of the great urban rivers of New England. The river and
the watershed that feeds it, served as an epicenter of much
of the activity from which sprung settlement and economic
activity in the colonies: mills, shipyards, and villages.
Unfortunately, settlement and industrial activity have
not always been kind to the watershed. As the towns and
cities in the watershed developed, fields were replaced with
parking lots, footpaths with highways, and pastoral river
banks with polluting industrial activity and shipyards with oil
storage facilities. All of these alterations have contributed
to the decline of the watershed and water quality in the
Mystic River. In addition, the lower segments of the Mystic
River and its tributaries lie in a densely populated, highly
urbanized industrial area where citizens are challenged by
significant environmental, social, and economic concerns.
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HOW C,AN I GET MORE INFORMATION?
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WHO IS CURRENTLY INVOLVED?
The Steering Committee is comprised of 22 organizations — not-for-profit
community groups, local, state, and federal governmental agencies.
•Alternatives for Community and Environment, Roxbury, MA
•Chariestown Waterfront Coalition, Charlestown, MA
•Chelsea Collaborative, Chelsea, MA
•City of Chelsea and Town of Winchester representing all 21 municipalities
•Conservation Law Foundation
• Friends of the Alewife Reservation, Arlington/Cambridge, MA
•Friends of the Middlesex Fells, Medford/Winchester/Melrose, MA
• Friends of Upper Mystic Lake, Winchester/Medford, MA
•Groundwork Somerville, Somerville, MA
• La Comunidad, Inc., Everett, MA
•Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation
• Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection
• Massachusetts Department of Public Health
•Massachusetts Department of Transportation
• Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs
• Massachusetts Port Authority
• Massachusetts Water Resources Authority
• Metropolitan Area Planning Council
• Mystic River Watershed Association
•Neighborhood Of Affordable Housing, East Boston, MA
• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
•Woburn Residents' Environmental Network, Woburn, MA
Resources
For more information about the Initiative visit our Web site:
www.epa.gov/region 1/mysticriver
EPA Contact
Caitlyn Whittle 617-918-1748
whittle.caitlyn@epa.gov
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MYSTIC RIVER WATERSHED
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REPORT CARD
2006: D 2007: D 2008: C- 2009: C-
Each year, EPA New England issues a report card for the Mystic River Watershed based on sampling data from the previous
year. The grade is determined after comparing bacterial water quality data at the 15 MyRWA baseline monitoring points
throughout the watershed to state swimming and boating water quality standards.
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