Summer 2013 Internships Available

The Mystic River Watershed Association is happy to offer internship opportunities for summer 2013:

1) Water Quality Monitoring Internship (Cyanobacteria) - 2 positions available - will gather data on Cyanobacteria populations and key water quality parameters from approximately ten water bodies to safeguard the public health of residents who live in the watershed.

2) Aquatic Invasive Management Internship (Water Chestnut) - assist in organizing an effort to remove the invasive species Water Chestnut (Trapa natans) from the Mystic River. Responsibilities include organizing and assisting group and community events and managing teams of volunteers to remove plants from the river by canoe.

3) Herring Habitat Monitoring Internship - 2 positions available - assist in a scientific study on habitat and river herring populations from May 6 through August 30.

Help coordinate community water chestnut removal events!For all positions, the exact dates can be flexible depending on the candidate. These are unpaid positions.

The Mystic River Watershed Association is based in Arlington, MA and is accessible via several bus routes.

The Mystic River Watershed Association is an equal opportunity employer.

We hope you'll consider joining our TEAM!

Suffolk Downs Supports Mystic River Water Quality Programs

EkOngKar Singh Khalsa, Executive Director - Mystic River Watershed Association and Chip Tuttle, Chief Operating Officer - Suffolk Downs, celebrate Suffolk Downs’ support of local water quality monitoring and improvement efforts. (Pictured above on the banks of the Mystic River at Mary O’Malley Park in Chelsea.

Sterling Suffolk Racecourse LLC (Suffolk Downs) delivers the first of three $165,000 annual payments in support of Mystic River water quality monitoring programs. The Mystic River Watershed Association’s ongoing monthly Baseline and Hot-Spot Monitoring Programs will be funded under an agreement recently endorsed by both parties. Suffolk’s provision of funding toward this project was undertaken in connection with the settlement of an enforcement action, United States v. Sterling Suffolk Racecourse, LLC, on behalf of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under the Clean Water Act.

Watershed Wildlife

Hi folks!

Some wildlife news:

Today a seal was spotted in the Mystic River by Mary O'Malley Park in Chelsea by a water quality monitor.

There have been reports of several bald eagles at the Mystic Lakes for the past several weeks.

And finally, there are rumors of a bobcat(s) in Belmont...

Malden River Interest Group Meeting 1/31

Malden River – Creating a Vision for the Future

Do you live in Malden, Medford or Everett?
Do you care about the condition of the Malden River? 
Was the Malden River Always Like This?
Are you satisfied with the state of the Malden River?
Are there opportunities to restore public access or get parts of the river cleaned up further?

If any of the above questions intrigue you, please join us for a meeting with a purpose:

Development of a local advocacy group of diverse constituency that will seek environmental restoration, public access and sustainable development along the Malden River Corridor.

The Malden River is currently a 1.7 mile channelized river with a checkered history of environmental contamination. The river is challenged by poor water quality and legacy contaminants in the sediments.  Access to the water for boating is limited to a single private dock.  But the history of the river says that there is more than what meets the eye.  Historically the river was tidal with salt marsh and small streams lining the edges.  The river extended in a sinuous fashion further north in a stream all the way to Ell Pond in Melrose.

Please join us on the 3rd floor of the offices of the Tri-City Community Action Program (Tri-CAP), 110 Pleasant St.,  Malden at 6 PM on Thursday January 31, 2013 to help us guide a future for the Malden River. Participants will include other local residents, Tri-CAP, Alternatives for Community and Environment (ACE), the Mystic River Watershed Association (MyRWA) and Tufts University.

If you have any questions, please email Patrick Herron (patrick@mysticriver.org).

Environmental Restoration presentation 2/5

Join MyRWA at our monthly Committee Meeting at 7:00PM, Tues. Feb. 5th to hear from guest speaker Franz Ingelfinger, Restoration Ecologist, Division of Ecological Restoration, MA Dept. of Fish & Game. Mr. Ingelfinger will discuss the Belle Isle Marsh restoration project as well as restoration tools. Free and open to the public! Location: Tufts University, Lincoln Filene Center, Rabb Room, Medford

Mystic River Water Quality Forum held 1/24

MyRWA's Katrina Sukola discusses herring in the Mystic.Over 60 people battled the cold to attend the January 24th Mystic River Water Quality Forum held at EPA’s Boston office. The presenters, largely scientists and municipal staff, presented on a variety of topics including stormwater permits, municipal projects to improve water quality, starting a volunteer stormwater monitoring team, cyanobacteria, historic chloride levels, and herring migration and habitat.

MyRWA scientist Patrick Herron presented State of the Mystic - Water Quality and Environmental Conditions. Patrick demonstrated how the EPA Mystic River grade is calculated each year and provided details on bacterial and phosphorus levels. He also correlated water chestnut and water lily growth in the Mystic to the added nutrient load.

Katrina Sukola, MyRWA scientist, dove into local fisheries and provided an overview of the 2012 Herring Monitoring Program. In the first year of this program, over 80 volunteers counted upwards of 21,000 fish for an estimated 198,932 2012 Mystic River herring run. Katrina also presented data collected through MyRWA’s Herring Habitat Assessment.

The event underlined the high level of data being collected by various parties in the Mystic River Watershed as well as the collaborations and efforts underway to make improvements.

Mystic River Urban Waters Voices

Urban Waters Voices is a series of video interviews produced by the EPA featuring locally led efforts to restore urban waters in communities across the United States. These videos feature local efforts and strategies to improve urban water quality while advancing local community priorities.

Check out the Mystic River Urban Waters Voices video today, featuring EkOngKar "EK" Singh Khalsa, Executive Director of the Mystic River Watershed Association. EK describes some of the challenges faced by Mystic River communities (e.g. access to the river and water quality issues) and how this organization's outreach and educational efforts are being used to address these challenges.

Special Event: Climate Change in the Mystic River Watershed: Vulnerabilities & Adaptation Strategies

Join the Mystic River Watershed Association for a special presentation by Paul Kirshen, PhD, Research Professor at the Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans and Space at the University of New Hampshire on February 11th.

Dr. Kirshen will address the impacts of Climate Change that one can expect to see in the Mystic River Watershed and how local water quality will be effected.

When: Monday, February 11th, 7:00PM

Where:Tufts University, Anderson Hall, Nelson Auditorium, Medford, MA

This free event is part of the Mystic River Clean Water Campaign. Learn more about the campaign and get involved here.

Please join us Feb. 11th!

Announcing the 2013 Mystic River Water Quality Science Forum

Please plan on attending this public forum.

2013 SCIENCE SUB-COMMITTEE MEETING

Location: EPA Regional Office – 5 Post Office Square Boston, MA

Conference Room: Court Room 6 – 15th floor

DRAFT AGENDA

• 9:00 - 9:10 Welcome and Introductions (Patrick Herron and Tom Faber)

• 9:10 - 9:25 Enforcement and MS4 Permit update Todd Borci (EPA) Nihar Mohanty MA DEP?

• 9:25 - 9:50 State of the Mystic - Water Quality and Environmental Conditions (Patrick Herron)

• 9:50 - 10:05 Island End Tributary Sewer Main Removal Success Story (Andrew DeSantis)

• 10:05 – 10:30 MWR205 CSO Status and Update (Rick Trubiano, Rob King)

• 10:30 - 10:45 Break (Coffee and Snacks for purchase on 3rd floor)

• 10:45 - 11:05 Herring Restoration Efforts and New Opportunities (Katrina Sukola)

• 11:05 – 11:20 Lexington’s Volunteer Stormwater Monitoring (David Pavlik, Emily Schadler)

• 11:20 – 11:35 Historic Chloride levels in the Mystic (Roger Frymire)

• 11:35 – 11:50 Real–Time Monitoring of Water Quality and Cyanobacteria (Tom Faber)

• 11:50 - 12:20 General Discussion, Recommendations, and Next Steps (All)

Directions: http://www.epa.gov/region1/directions/index.html

Please plan on extra time to proceed through security and enter the building through the public entrance located on Congress Street.  Be prepared to present ID and go through security upon entering the building.  You will be required to power up any electronic devices that you bring; to save time, leave extra electronics at home.  

Coffee and snacks will not be provided, but are available for purchase in the cafeteria on the 3rd floor.

Suffolk Downs Funds Mystic River Water Quality Monitoring and Improvement Program

Beginning in February 2013, the Mystic River Watershed Association will receive $495,000 over three years from Sterling Suffolk Racecourse LLC (Suffolk Downs), to support water quality monitoring and improvement efforts throughout the twenty-two community Mystic River Watershed. Both a monthly Baseline Monitoring Program and a Hot-Spot Monitoring Program will be funded under an agreement recently endorsed by both parties. Suffolk’s provision of funding toward this project was undertaken in connection with the settlement of an enforcement action, United States v. Sterling Suffolk Racecourse, LLC, on behalf of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under the Clean Water Act.

“Improved water quality is an essential component of environmental restoration in the Mystic River Watershed and a critical first step toward a healthier local ecology. To accomplish this objective, the Mystic River Watershed Association serves as a consistent advocate for clean water,” stated EkOngKar Singh Khalsa, Executive Director of the Mystic River Watershed Association. “This new funding  provides assurance that critically important water quality monitoring will continue in the Mystic.”

Chip Tuttle, Chief Operating Officer of Suffolk Downs added, “Suffolk Downs is committed to programs and policies that will help the local environment now and as we look toward future development here. We are proud to partner with the Mystic River Watershed Association in this effort.” 

For forty years, MyRWA, a 501(c)3 organization, has relied upon generous support from concerned residents, businesses and foundations to accomplish its work. More recently, the water quality program has been supported by generous grants from the Massachusetts Environmental Trust, the Caswell Family Foundation and from local businesses including Exxon/Mobil Pipeline Corporation, Distrigas of Massachusetts, Schnitzer Northeast, Exelon Generation and Attorney Robert Bonsignore.

The Mystic River Baseline Monitoring Program engages more than 50 trained volunteers to take monthly samples at 15 locations throughout the watershed. Active since 2000, the Baseline Program provides critically important data with regard to the sources, type and volume of existing impairments to the river’s natural environment and water quality. Separately, the Hot-Spot Monitoring Program conducts intensive sub-watershed studies – water quality samples that may be collected along the entire length of a tributary, or from suspicious stormwater outfall pipes that discharge to the watershed's rivers and streams.  Samples taken are analyzed for bacteria, ammonia, dissolved oxygen, total suspended solids, and surfactants. 

The Baseline Monitoring Program and Hot-Spot Monitoring Program document water quality to inform municipal officials and regional planners and help effectively prioritize clean-up activities and infrastructure planning.  All data is available to the public here.