The River Runs Both Ways
The Blackstone River has long been regarded as a national historic treasure. Today, its natural history and remarkable environmental attributes are coming to light thanks to a coordinated effort by a number of environmental groups working with federal and state agencies. While we’ve made some hard-fought progress to clean up the river and restore habitat, we’ve only just begun.
Downstream Concerns
As downstream neighbors, we welcome the recent decision of the appeals board of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to enforce strict nitrogen and phosphorus limits for the Upper Blackstone Water Pollution Abatement District (UBWPAD), which includes several Worcester-area communities. At the same time we continue to advocate, alongside our partners at the Blackstone River Coalition, for fish passage projects through the first four dams. This will ensure that what comes down the river is clean, and that fish can find their way back up to their native streams.
The Blackstone was the birthplace of the industrial revolution, and from then on, it was widely used as a source of energy, fresh water and as a conveyance for all sorts of wastes from the many communities founded along its shores. There is a dam for nearly each mile of the river, and the legendary fish runs that once included Atlantic salmon, sea-run trout, blueback herring, and alewives were eliminated long ago.
In Rhode Island, we recognize both the blessings and the curses that the Blackstone brings to the Narragansett Bay estuary. The good includes the river being the largest source of fresh water to the whole system, contributing to the enormous biological productivity of the Providence River and Upper Bay. These fertile waters serve as the spawning ground and nursery for a diverse range of fish, shellfish and other marine life that seed and populate the bay and coastal waters out to the deep ocean.
The bad part is the pollution. An average of 35 million gallons of partially-treated wastewater spews from the UBWPAD plant in Worcester at its headwaters, a flow rate that actually can exceed the base flow of the river there. Nutrient pollution remains the top ecological health threat to the Blackstone and Upper Narragansett Bay, as excessive nutrients fuel algal blooms and low dissolved oxygen levels. UBWPAD is behind the curve when it comes to sewage treatment. Other plant operators have already agreed to strict nutrient limits and have invested hundreds of millions in upgrades. It’s high time for UBWPAD to do the same.
A clean and healthy Blackstone River is important for so many reasons, not just the ecological and historic value of the place. A clean and vibrant river will be reflected in each community it flows through. Through tourism, property values, and quality of life improvements, restoring the river is an investment in the economy of each municipality along its banks, and in critical infrastructure that benefits upstream and downstream neighbors alike.
Jonathan Stone is executive director of Save The Bay in Providence, R.I.
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