Your Hometown Radio
The top of the Wachusett Dam in Clinton was open on Sunday, attracting throngs of people of all ages who enjoyed the beautiful fall weather while exploring the landmark that was completed in 1905. The walkway opens only two times a year, in May and October, but the trails all around the dam that is part of the Nashua River Watershed and the fountain area below it are open year round.
The extremes of weather the region has experienced in recent years have posed challenges to keeping area waterways clean, but local watershed associations said infrastructure improvements could help keep rivers clean in the future.
The Environmental Protection Agency released reports earlier in the summer detailing the quality of the water in individual waterways using data from 2022, and the specific pollution and invasive species challenges faced by each. Four local rivers — the North Nashua, Merrimack, Shawsheen and Concord rivers — received relatively poor grades in multiple categories, and in most cases, the expectation is the trend will have continued into this year, but for a different reason.
Jessica Veysey Powell, a watershed scientist with the Nashua River Watershed Association, said the Nashua River overall has been in pretty good shape, but that the North Nashua River running through Fitchburg has faced its share of problems.
“When we get storm events, not even just big storm events, raw sewage often flows into the river,” said Powell.
What Powell described is a combined sewer overflow, an event in which a sewage system is unable to handle a rise in the volume of water, typically through rain, and overflows into nearby bodies of water, contaminating them. In 2023 there has been an abundance of CSO events due to the high rainfall totals the region has seen this year.
The data from the EPA, however, covers 2022, when the region was in the exact opposite situation: a severe drought.
“The drought last year didn’t help things,” said Powell.
Along with the issue of just not having enough water, droughts also pose an issue by turning bodies of water into perfect breeding grounds for certain bacteria, like E. coli, which found its way into many local rivers in 2022. There is also the perpetual issue of impervious surface runoff, Powell said, where rain falling on pavement carries pollutants from vehicles into nearby bodies of water or soil.
The EPA reports also noted the presence of lead and “chronic aquatic toxicity.”
“We are encouraging towns in our watersheds to implement green infrastructure along rivers and streams,” said Powell, adding that strategically using some vegetation can slow the flow of pollutants into bodies of water so that it is less concentrated.
The Merrimack River, which runs directly through Lowell, faced similar issues, and the EPA included in its report the presence of mercury in the tissues of fish found in the river last year, along with the presence of E. coli.
Merrimack River Watershed Council Policy and Education Specialist John Macone said that it isn’t typical for these reports from the EPA to change from year to year, and 2022 was apparently no exception.
“There is always mercury in the fish, and there is impairment for them to get up the river,” said Macone. “The fish ladders are not getting the job done.”
Macone said the Merrimack is one of the most important rivers on the East Coast for migratory fish like herring and shad, and that those fish end up being critical to the food supply of the ocean when they migrate there from the river.
“There are whales that have been seen eating these fish,” said Macone.
While the EPA data reflects a year of severe drought, Macone said the intense rain the region has faced this year will make the 2023 data look similar to 2022.
“This has been the highest number of CSO events I have ever seen,” said Macone. “That is a big issue for Lowell.”
The Concord River, which runs between Concord and Lowell, was also identified as having issues with E. coli in 2022, mostly due to warm, stagnant water conditions, but its main problems stemmed from invasive species. Those included the Asian clam, curly-leaf pondweed, Eurasian water milfoil, European water clover, fanwort and water chestnut.
Alison Field-Juma, executive director of OARS, said the Concord River, unlike the others, has not faced many problems with CSO events, as there is only one location on the river where they seem to happen near the part where the Concord reaches the Merrimack.
One issue faced by the Concord River that wasn’t reflected in the report, Field-Juma said, is the presence of chlorides, or salts, in the water.
“A lot of the higher chloride readings we get are along the (Interstate) 495 and Route 3 interchange and the Lowell Connector,” said Field-Juma. “This would point to highway salt as the likely source.”
Field-Juma said that along with the EPA’s data, OARS is preparing a five-year report of the Concord River themselves, of which they hope to have a version ready in the late spring of next year.
The Shawsheen River, specifically the leg that runs between Burlington and the Ballardvale Impoundment in Andover, saw a lighter report from the EPA, with curly-leaf pondweed listed as the only invasive species, but with E. coli being detected as well due to the low and stagnant water.
Shawsheen River Watershed Association President Brian Henderson said the drought naturally caused some measurements like E. coli to get worse, but that it also may have made some measurements better.
“The water was so low that it wasn’t moving much, which can increase problems with the measures. But there was also a lack of rain washing pollutants into the water, so some numbers were actually better,” said Henderson.
Henderson expressed the same concerns as Field-Juma in regard to chlorides, which he said are an issue in bodies of water statewide.
“The ice melt salt gets into the system. Those are giving us issues with the building up of chloride in the water,” said Henderson.
He said the Shawsheen River is better than it had been years ago, but that any body of water that goes through communities with a lot of housing and roads will face pollution from impervious surface runoff, and that these bodies of water absolutely deserve to be protected.
“We want people to be aware of the importance of keeping these water sources clean,” said Henderson. “Like in Billerica, the Concord River is their only source of water. If someone upstream dumped a bunch of chemicals into the river, the whole town is done.”
PEPPERELL — Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation Commissioner Brian Arrigo joined with the Friends of the Nashua River Rail Trail, members of the legislative delegation and municipal officials from Groton and Pepperell to walk a segment of the 12-mile Nashua River Rail Trail July 21.
The scenic rail trail was acquired by the DCR in 1987 and it first opened in October 2002. It begins at the Ayer Central Business District near the commuter rail station and passes through the towns of Ayer, Groton, Pepperell and Dunstable to the New Hampshire border and beyond. The popular trail is used by bicyclists, runners, walkers, roller skaters and cross-country skiers.
Over the past 20 years, portions of the rail trail have come to be in need of maintenance and repair. Potholes, protruding rocks, cracks, washouts and gaps can be seen along many parts of the rail trail. In 2019, state Sen. Ed Kennedy, D-Lowell, was able to secure a local initiative in a transportation bond bill that provided authorization to bond $650,000 for the repair and repaving of the Nashua River Rail Trail.
This year, the Healey-Driscoll administration has included $650,000 to repave the trail in its 2024-2028 Capital Investment Plan. In the spring of 2023, the DCR spent approximately $400,000 on repairs to the NRRT, including resurfacing, signage replacement and refreshing of pavement markings.
“As a user of the Nashua River Rail Trail, I know first-hand that the rail trail has been overdue for repaving and certain maintenance. I am very thankful to DCR Commissioner Brian Arrigo for taking an interest in the Nashua River Rail Trail. I also want to thank the Healey-Driscoll administration for including the trail in their capital investment plan,” Kennedy said.
In addition to Kennedy, state Rep. Margaret Scarsdale, D-Pepperell, state Sen. Jamie Eldridge, D-Marlboro, state Rep. Danillo Sena, D-Acton, and Susan Templeton from the office of state Sen. John Cronin, D-Fitchburg, joined the rail trail tour.
“Commissioner Arrigo has hit the ground running, and we appreciate his leadership and willingness to engage with the delegation and the Friends of the Nashua River Rail Trail. This trail provides recreation, relaxation, and respite to thousands of users and we are eager to restore it so that residents and visitors can safely enjoy it for years to come,” Scarsdale said.
Groton Select Board Chair Peter Cunningham, who is one of the leaders of the Friends of the Nashua River Rail Trail, led the tour that focused on the Pepperell segment of the rail trail.
“DCR Commissioner Arrigo’s visit to the Nashua River Rail Trail (NRRT) in Pepperell this past Friday is a very positive sign that the agency will now sharpen its focus on the importance of the NRRT to the towns in the Nashoba Valley and the need for its reconstruction,” Cunningham said. “Viewing firsthand deteriorated trail conditions and their impact on user enjoyment and safety speaks to the old adage ‘a picture is worth a thousand words.’”
“I am grateful to DCR Commissioner Brian Arrigo for visiting Pepperell to tour the Nashua River Rail Trail with state legislators, municipal officials, and rail trail enthusiasts,” Eldridge said. “The walk was an important opportunity to show Commissioner Arrigo the need to repave the twenty-year-old rail trail and thank him and the Healey-Driscoll administration for including $650,000 in the administration’s capital plan, to upgrade the rail trail. This will provide a beautiful recreational opportunity for bicyclists and pedestrians through the communities of Ayer, Groton, Pepperell and Townsend, up to New Hampshire.”
Many members of the state legislature have welcomed the appointment of Arrigo as commissioner of DCR since he assumed the role in April this year. Prior to his role as DCR commissioner, Arrigo served as mayor of Revere from January 2016 to April 2023, and before that as Revere city councilor from January 2012 to December 2015.
“I’m thankful to the local delegation and the Friends of the Nashua River Rail Trail for meeting with me along the trail to discuss NRRT’s importance to Ayer, Groton, Dunstable and Pepperell. DCR is committed to working with our partners in the legislature, the Administration and our municipalities to support our extensive shared-use trail network which offers tremendous environmental, social and economic benefits to our state and our residents by connecting communities, reducing carbon emissions and providing equal access to open space,” Arrigo said.
The Nashua River Rail Trail is open seven days a week from sunrise to sunset.
GROTON — State Sens. Jamie Eldridge and Ed Kennedy made their way to Groton last Friday to survey the current state of the Nashua River Rail Trail.
The Nov. 18 site visit, which also included representatives of state Sen. John Cronin and state Rep. Dan Sena’s offices, came in response to a letter penned by Peter Cunningham, a member of the Groton Select Board and the Friends of the Nashua River Rail Trail, back in August that described the condition of the “vital recreational resource” as “deteriorated.”
Managed by the state’s Department of Conservation and Recreation, Cunningham recently said he felt the NRRT had been neglected by the agency.
That said, he called Friday’s visit “huge” for the future of the trail.
“Obviously (a visit by the legislators) can help us raise awareness, but I think it can also help (the legislators) back on Beacon Hill when they need to sort of articulate what we’re dealing with,” Cunningham said. “You can be somewhere, you can read a letter and maybe understand at a certain level, but seeing the condition of the trail firsthand like they have today can really make a difference.”
“Having (state) Sen. Eldridge and (state) Sen. Kennedy here, that’s huge, it’s all a part of that process and, hopefully, it’s just the beginning,” he said.
Through constant use, the trail has become inundated with potholes and other markings. Likewise, weather, rocks and roots have cracked parts of the trail and, in some areas, even broken through the surface of the pavement from underneath, leading to large mounds in the asphalt that the FNRRT refer to as “volcanoes.”
After they walked a section of the trail, Eldridge and Kennedy both called for a complete “rebuild” of the trail by DCR and said the pockmarked surface could pose a safety risk to those that continue to use the trail.
“This is one of the oldest rail trails in the state and has seen more and more people use it every day,” Eldridge said. “So I think, now, it’s time for DCR to not just patch certain sections, but commit to a plan to fully rebuild and replace the entire Nashua River Rail Trail.”
“It’s bad — the trail is more than 20 years old at this point and, I know some areas have been fixed up, but it really needs a total overhaul,” Kennedy said. “Anybody that’s walked that trail, that’s seen the damage, it’s evident that it’s a safety concern for people and it’s something I would like to see addressed by DCR with greater emphasis.”
While Eldridge said he did not expect “significant” action from DCR until Maura Healey is sworn in as Massachusetts’ next governor in January, he hoped to develop some sort of plan for the NRRT moving forward alongside the agency and other local legislators. He also stressed that funding for such a plan is already available.
“Obviously, a funding decision might not happen until the (Healey) administration is in place, but I think we can and should begin working on a plan now,” he said. “Clearly, any plan to address the (Nashua River Rail) trail will have to be comprehensive, so getting a jump start on that now could go a long way.”
“It’s also important to emphasize to DCR that these funds are there, we have ARPA money, federal infrastructure money and other funds thanks to the congressional delegation. So if (funds) are what DCR needs to (rebuild the trail), I think local, state and federal elected officials have to work together to make that clear to (DCR),” he said.
Cunningham said he hoped to see a renewed commitment to the NRRT by DCR in the near future and noted that the agency has enacted similar efforts for other rail trails across the state.
“It has been done elsewhere, it’s not some black magic,” Cunningham said. “A whole rebuild of the trail is what really needs to happen here — and I would love to see that, so hopefully (DCR and the state Legislature) can work together to make that happen.”
Going forward, Eldridge, Kennedy and Cunningham called for continued and “robust” advocacy for the trail by local constituents to ensure the state Legislature and those at DCR know that the NRRT is a “priority.”
“The letter we got back in August, that to me is representative of the people of these communities — they are fed up with the inaction and want to see real change,” Eldridge said. “Still, we need to hear from more of those constituents about what a priority (the NRRT) is, because that pressure is what gets things moving at the state level.”
“Very often with bureaucracies, you have to gain a certain level of momentum to try and change something or get that bureaucracy to really pay attention,” Cunningham said. “Those that frequent the trail, know the condition of the trail — we need them to sort of translate that knowledge into advocacy, contact their local (state) Reps. and Sens. to let them know that this is something they really care about.”
PEPPERELL — As we walk along a wooden pathway or in our own backyards, we almost never notice the magical world at our feet.
From “Pixie Cups” to “Velvet Brocade”, lichens and mosses are some of the most fascinating and beautiful, but often overlooked, organisms in the forest. But, with support from the Community Foundation of North Central Massachusetts and the Nashua River Watershed Association, guests of the Albert Harris Center recently explored the magical world of moss, lichen and fungi as part of the association’s “Explore the Forest Floor” program.
NRWA Environmental Education Associate and Naturalist Gaynor Bigelbach recently led an exploration of specimens and miniature forest floor displays using botany magnifiers and microscopes. Guests learned about the importance of these ingenious “pioneer” species and how they help to keep the forest and people healthy.
Many questions were answered during the free program that was open to the public.
The Nashua Wild and Scenic Rivers Act was signed into law by former President Donald Trump on March 12, 2019. Sections of the Nashua, Squannacook, and Nissitissit Rivers are now officially designated as part of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System.
In 2019, the NRWA celebrated its 50th Anniversary. The NRWA River Resource Center on Route 119 in Groton is open from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Monday through Thursday. Many staff are part-time, out in the field or working from home some days. They can be reached by email at nrwa@nashuariverwatershed.org. Staff can also be reached by leaving a message at 978-448-0299 during hours the office is closed.
LEOMINSTER — Despite the threat of rain, Mayor Dean Mazzarella and others came together Tuesday to celebrate the “big deal” that is the North Nashua Riverbank Stabilization Project.
On Aug. 23, representatives of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency and the State Legislature joined Mazzarella behind the city’s wastewater treatment facility to celebrate the project, which is set to stabilize a nearly 400-linear-foot section of the northern Nashua Riverbank between the facility and the Leominster Connector.
If left unchecked, the continued erosion of the riverbank could threaten the integrity of the treatment plant’s infrastructure. Damage to said infrastructure could lead to public health risk and, according to former Leominster Business Manager Roger Brooks, a “second-to-none” climate disaster as sewage and other wastewater could flood into the Nashua River.
The event was also part of a national push by FEMA to recognize local resiliency projects and highlight the agency’s Hazard Mitigation Grant Program, which funded a significant portion of the project, and similar climate resilience grant programs, such as the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities and Flood Mitigation Assistance grant programs amid “unprecedented” federal funding.
“Infrastructure issues are never the sexiest to work on, but they’re often the most important and can have the greatest impact on people’s lives,” FEMA’s Region 1 Regional Administrator Lori Ehlrich said. “I am really glad to call attention to this project.”
“It’s not a very glamorous part of the business, infrastructure, and, no slight to former administrations, but it was very difficult to get these projects funded,” Mazzarella said. “But these are modern times, this isn’t 1960 where people could just discharge raw sewage into rivers and oceans — we had a responsibility to get this done and I’m glad we are on our way.”
Erosion of the embankment was discovered back in 2010 during unrelated testing of the river water by the Nashua River Watershed Association. In 2020, after a long grant application process described as “cumbersome” by MEMA Deputy Director Patrick Carnevale, Leominster was awarded $674,100 in federal funding for the $898,000 project through the HMGP.
“Back in 2010, (The Nashua River Watershed Association) discovered that the embankment here had started to become compromised,” Brooks said. “Later on, a couple of trees eventually fell in and, as time wore, we continued to lose more and more of the riverbank.”
“We’ve got two 36-inch sewer lines that run along the edge of the river — if those failed or the embankment gave way and caused a problem, the environmental impact would be second-to-none. So, safe to say, everyone here is glad to see this project truly get underway,” he said.
According to Department of Public Works Assistant Director Mark Piermarini, GZA GeoEnvironmental is managing the project design, which is nearing completion. Barring any setbacks, Piermarini said construction is expected to start “early next spring” and should be completed later in 2023.
Carnevale applauded FEMA, MEMA and Leominster on their ability to come together and work collaboratively, both in regard to the grant process and the project itself. He dubbed their work a “real success story,” while Ehlrich described Tuesday’s event as a “victory lap” for everyone involved.
“It’s all about partnerships — that’s how these projects work and, with that in mind, (the Nashua Riverbank Stabilization Project) is a real success story,” Carnevale said. “Getting a successful Hazard Mitigation grant across the line is complicated, and that success came through an incredible amount of work from everyone here today.”
“The city of Leominster, and cities and towns like it throughout Massachusetts, should be applauded for the long-term planning and vision, the foresight and commitment that made this project happen,” he said.
State Sen. John Cronin and state Rep. Natalie Higgins similarly thanked those in attendance for their work, while Cronin called the protection of Leominster’s water and wastewater systems as “critical and essential.”
“One thing that has always struck me is just how hard it is to get money to flow to a project that is uncontroversial and really necessary,” Cronin said. “I’m just so grateful to everyone that made today possible and it’s great to see these funds used how they were intended to,” he said.
“I’m really, really grateful for everyone that played a part in getting this done,” Higgins said. “The cross-collaboration from the local level to the state and federal level is why Leominster is such a special place – I’m really incredibly grateful to be able to celebrate with you all today.”
Mazzarella thanked everyone involved in the process for their hard work and described the federal funding as an “acknowledgment” that he and everyone involved in the project “have done and continue to do what is right for Leominster.”
“This is a big deal (to Leominster), it’s a big deal that everyone came out today — when FEMA and MEMA come out, that’s pretty important,” Mazzarella said. “It’s a team effort and I can’t thank you all enough.”
“We’re doing everything we can to try and make Leominster the best place it can be — we wouldn’t be able to do that without the help of FEMA and other federal and state agencies so, again, I just want to thank them.”
