Water Quality and Hydrology:
In an urban watershed such as the Mystic, both the water quality and hydrology have been greatly impacted by long histories of industrial pollution, wetland infilling, old and deteriorating infrastructure, increased impermeable surface area, and stream channelization and damming.

Mystic Monitoring Network:
Since July 2000, MyRWA volunteers have collected samples throughout the watershed for analysis of bacteria and nutrients. We currently have 3 studies underway: our “Baseline Monitoring Program,” where volunteers sample at the same 10 locations each month; and our “Hot-Spot Monitoring Program,” where volunteers sample each month intensively along a river or stream. The third project is called the Find It and Fix It Program which aims to improve water quality by identifying and removing pollution caused by stormwater. To learn more about our results, click here. To learn more about volunteering, email marybeth@mysticriver.org.

What can I do?

Read 'Eight simple steps to clean water', focusing on polluted stormwater.

Read a watershed glossary.

Know Your Watershed.

Do research, and read others' work.

Look at maps of pollution.

Volunteer to monitor water quality.

Read research about Mystic watershed water quality.

Water Quantity

Flow determines how much pollution enters the river and settles in the riverbed, and how much erosion happens on riverbanks. Floods happen when water flow is greater than carrying capacity.

Alewife Creek and the Mystic River need citizen water monitors if you want to volunteer. Some of the links on this page lead to hydrologic (water quantity) studies of the Mystic.

An important hydrology concept is the interaction between groundwater & surface water. Read the Know Your Watershed Guide.

Water Quality

The EPA Office of Wetlands, Oceans, and Watersheds has information on water quality, pollution control and prevention, and associated laws, regulations and treaties.

Also check out the Surf Your Watershed site for the Mystic (n.b. the Mystic is included in the Charles River Basin on this website). Here you will find links to the Envirofacts Warehouse and the Enviromapper Database.

Also available is the proposed 2002 303d list of impaired waters for the state of Massachusetts. (The Mystic section begins on page 75).

Several agencies and institutions collect data on the water quality of the Mystic. Check out the Mass. Water Resources Authority Boston Harbor Monitoring page and the Tufts University Mystic Watershed Collaborative Digital Library.

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