The Mystic River Watershed Association’s roots started in the early 1970’s at Tufts University's Department of Chemical Engineering. At that time students and professors were collecting and analyzing water samples from the Mystic Lakes and Aberjona River–sparking conversations around the conditions of the local waterway.
“I am a physician, and have been in public health, and I was very interested in knowing about the water quality. I learned there was a group at Tufts University that met regularly about the Lakes, so I went to the meetings,” said Dr. Peter Braun, co-founder.
This group discovered issues with excessive levels of ammonia in the Lakes, which was ultimately traced to a failed environmental barrier at a chemical plant in Wilmington. Dr. Braun helped create a newsletter to highlight this pollution, which eventually led to regulatory action by the Environmental Protection Agency.
Dr. Peter Braun and Dr. Herbert Meyer realized that there was a role for community action and monitoring, and they went on to found the Mystic River Watershed Association (MyRWA). You can hear more from Dr. Braun on the founding of the Mystic River Watershed Association here. For the first three decades, this all-volunteer organization played an important role in the clean-up of local hazardous waste sites, and the protection of nearby wetlands and habitat.
MyRWA now has a professional staff of 13, a board of 17 and thousands of volunteers who continue to tackle issues facing our watershed. With this staffing in-place we have launched a number of new programs and initiatives that are resulting in restored habitat, clean water, resilient communities, new parks and paths, and ultimately healthier communities. A timeline of recent programs is as follows:
2000: MyRWA instituted a water quality monitoring program that incorporates trained volunteers, and an annual report card grade. The Mass Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) now use the data to inform regulatory, permit and enforcement action, and municipalities act on it to make local improvements. We have seen grades improve in different sections of the watershed–including most recently at Island End River–which went from a “D” to an “A+”.
2010: The water chestnut removal program kicked off, and through the years we have brought out 1,000 plus volunteers every year to remove these invasive plants from our water. This program has now expanded to include the removal of Oriental bittersweet on land.
2012: Thanks to citizen action, the newly rebuilt dam included a fish passage allowing herring to go from the Lower Mystic to the Upper Mystic Lakes. To track the impact of this expanded habitat, MyRWA launched the herring monitoring program, whereby 80 volunteers monitor the run at the Mystic Lakes and starting in 2019 an additional 80 volunteers monitor the run at Horn Pond in Woburn. In the next couple years a new fish passage will be coming to Horn Pond-opening up even more habitat for herring.
2015: MyRWA formalized the Mystic Greenways Initiative, whereby we work to improve the parks and connect paths along the Mystic and Malden Rivers. To-date, 3 miles have been built, with 7 more in design.
2016: Our first Watershed Educator brought place-based science to local students. The program now reaches 1,000 youth every year, and involves 8,000 community scientists counting herring using our underwater “fish cam”.
2018: MyRWA launched our latest initiative to catalyze climate resiliency planning on a watershed scale-to date the Resilient Mystic Collaborative has brought in $3.6 million in funding for shared watershed projects.
2021: Trash Free Mystic moved beyond just cleaning up trash in our parks and rivers through volunteer action to study and implement some solutions that get to the root problem of trash in our parks, rivers and ocean.
Why is protecting our watershed so important: Reflections on the Mystic.
During the last 50 years MyRWA, volunteers and our community members have been the cornerstone of our work. The watershed is healthier as a direct result of all our efforts. Thank you for being part of this story. Please join us in celebrating 50 years! You can:
SHARE YOUR STORY of the Mystic!
DONATE - Think about making a special 50th year gift! Maybe make it monthly!
JOIN US AT AN EVENT or even host your own!
Stay tuned for the new strategic plan coming out in the Summer 2022!
