Mystic River Summit

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The Mystic River as it nears Boston Harbor with Boston in the distance.

EPA New England would like to thank everyone that participated in the Mystic River Watershed Summit, held April 10, 2008 in Boston. Over 170 people attended the summit and we are quite pleased with all the energy and enthusiasm that was displayed at the summit. We look forward to working with the Mystic watershed groups and communities to restore water quality in the watershed. Revitalizing the Mystic will be quite a challenge, but forming strong partnerships is the first step toward reaching our common goals.

The draft meeting notes from the Summit have been posted on this web site. Numerous conference calls were held over the summer to finish up discussions and review our typed notes from the breakout sessions. The goal of these calls was to review and refine the meeting notes and further develop actions and priorities.

As an outgrowth of the Summit, EPA New England is spearheading a collaborative effort to revitalize the Mystic with federal, state, and local partners. We are hoping to work with a formal steering committee to implement short- and long-term water quality goals that will be established early 2009. This winter, EPA New England hopes to co-sponsor a science committee meeting, which will be a forum to provide opportunity for researchers to share information on their projects within the watershed.

Mystic River Summit Notes:

Flooding
The flooding group met at the summit and discussed several opportunities for additional communication between agencies and municipalities during a flood event. Currently, DCR, Winchester and Woburn work together during a flood event, but there is opportunity for additional collaboration with the Arlington-Belmont-Cambridge flooding group and the City of Somerville. There remains difficulty discussing flooding as it relates to water quality. A brainstorming session was summarized into several types of actions that could improve flood conditions and reduce flooding in the watershed. They are: maintenance actions, regional communication/collaboration, and updated land use policies.

Land Use and Connecting people to the River
The land use group identified several areas where action is needed in the watershed. The group tackled issues such as changing land use and its impact on the river, reconnecting people to the river, and fish advisories. The group determined that access and redevelopment are needed in designated port areas; that enforcement of permits and regulations at the federal and state level should be a priority; that there is a need to add and connect bike paths, multiuse paths, and walkways in the watershed; that all new development and redevelopment should be environmentally responsible; and that public access to the river is still a big issue. This group recommended public education campaigns for many of these issues as well as for subsistence fishing, for which there is a watershed-wide advisory.

Bacteria & Stormwater
One of the biggest outcomes of the bacteria group is the recommendation to add a Science Committee to the Initiative structure. The Science Committee will provide a venue once or twice a year for scientists to share research and information about water quality in the watershed. The committee may also be accessed for recommendations or scientific advice in future steering committee actions. Other follow-ups suggested from the session are to reduce the inflow from CSOs and SSOs, to increase monitoring thru increased funding and support for monitoring, and to reduce and eliminate stormwater and illicit connections in the watershed.

Industrial Contaminants
The Industrial Contaminants group has continued to focus on expanding recreational uses in the watershed by prioritizing key sites (Mill Creek, Malden River, Spy Pond, and Upper Mystic Lake). These locations were selected from an initial list of ten sites* based on their geographic distribution, potential for improvement, and diversity and number of people who will benefit from their improvement. This is still a draft list, as the group intends to vet these to a wider audience. Since July, MyRWA and EPA have conducted water quality studies, collecting more than 500 samples from throughout the watershed. USGS has also conducted sediment quality monitoring. Data from these studies are being used to identify and eliminate both point and non-point sources of pollution in areas that can provide greater recreation to residents.

*The original list of sites included: