Thank you Senators Sal DiDomenico and Pat Jehlen for your thoughtful opinion piece in the January 17th Boston Globe pressing to clean-up the Mystic River. The Senators have correctly identified the key components to a successful restoration of this important natural resource. We support the creation of the Mystic River Watershed Water Quality Commission to investigate ways to improve environmental conditions while determining the feasibility of bringing the water quality in the Mystic River Watershed to a level that supports fishing, boating, swimming and wildlife.
Lexington to Host Stream Management Workshop for Mystic River Watershed
Lexington’s Engineering and Conservation Divisions will host a public workshop on Thursday, January 30, 2014 to discuss stream management in the Mystic River Watershed.
The workshop is part of the Mystic River Watershed Project which aims to identify problem areas, explore restoration and mitigation opportunities, and develop a priority plan to protect property and water resources in the watershed. Citizens are encouraged to attend and offer feedback, especially those living in the Mystic River Watershed which includes the Mill Brook. (view a poster here, which includes a map of Lexington's watersheds)
The workshop will be held on Thursday, January 30, 2014 at 7:00 p.m. in the Public Services Building at 201 Bedford Street in Lexington. The presentation will be given by Woodard & Curran, Lexington’s watershed management consultant.
For more information about this workshop or Lexington’s watersheds, contact David Pavlik of the Lexington Engineering Department at 781-274-8309.
Volunteer For a Fun Event!
The annual Mystic River Herring Run and Paddle, a road and paddle race, will be held on May 18th. A team of volunteers helps make this event a success! Whether helping with promotion, kids’ activities, or gathering prizes and sponsors, we welcome your participation! The kick-off planning meeting for the 2014 race will be held Jan. 22, 7pm at the MyRWA office building: 20 Academy ST, 2nd floor, Arlington.
Open-Source Water Quality Monitoring Coming to the Mystic
There’s a new project in the Mystic River – one that started at ioby, a crowd-resourcing platform for citizen-led neighborhood projects from the Davis Square, Somerville location. Ioby’s mission is to deepen civic engagement in cities by connecting individuals directly to community-led, neighbor-funded environmental projects in their neighborhoods. So when MyRWA heard ioby would be focusing on water quality, we were excited to join the conversation.
Now, with your help, ioby plans to develop an ‘open source’ water quality monitoring platform that will cost far less than typical monitoring, and will be open for communities everywhere to build and use. This neighborhood team plans on deploying their first water quality monitor prototypes in the Alewife Brook subwatershed with the goal of answering some of the questions raised in a prior community workshop. The open-sourced water quality meters will track key parameters like conductivity and temperature and potentially make this data available real-time. They are excited to test the platform against MyRWA’s volunteer measurements and high-end instrumentation (YSI Probes). It could be a great collaboration between MyRWA staff and trained water quality monitors and the people at the Public Lab.
To be successful, they’ll need your support – every donation, no matter the size, is greatly appreciated and helps strengthen this effort.
Winter Bird Walk announced
The Friends of the Mystic River invites you to their annual winter bird walk on Saturday, January 25, 2014 from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
Take a two-hour trip along the Mystic Lakes and upper Mystic River to discover what birds can be found in the middle of winter, even an exceptionally cold one. Each year hundreds of birds winter on and around the Mystic River and Lakes as long as open water is available. We'll be looking for raptors, such as a possible Bald Eagle or Red-tailed Hawk; waterfowl, including Common and Hooded Mergansers; and much more.
Black ducks on the Upper Mystic Lake.Dress appropriately for the weather. (In very cold weather, this means in layers with hat or cap, gloves, water resistant boots with tread.) Meet on Saturday, January 25 at 10 a.m. in front of West Medford Congregational Church at 400 High Street (Route 60), Medford. Canceled in persistent rain or icy conditions; will go in snow as long as parking is open at the Mystic Lakes. Bring a birding field guide and binoculars if possible; there will be car pooling and limited walking. Led by Paul Roberts. Co-sponsored with the Menotomy Bird Club.
For more info call Paul Roberts at 781-483-4263 or email phawk254 at comcast.net or mystic02155 at hotmail.com
For more information on the Friends of the Mystic River see http://www.fomr.org.
City of Medford reports on 1/6/14 oil spill
This letter comes directly from the City of Medford Office of Energy and Environment, January 7, 2014.
The Mass DEP was notified of a release of diesel fuel from a tanker truck at the Erickson Fuel Company located at 600 Boston Ave in Medford on Monday, January 6, 2014. The capacity of the tanker truck was 2,850 gallons. According to Erickson, the truck was holding 1,449 gallons of diesel fuel winter blend (which means that it was cut with Kerosene, which keeps the fuel liquid enough to pump). It is reported that a flange at the bottom of the tank froze during the recent super cold weather. The release occurred when the flange thawed out on Sunday. The fuel impacted Erickson’s truck yard and the city’s storm drainage system. Mass DEP responded to the incident and Medford Fire, DPW and the Environment Office have also been on scene. A Mass DEP spill trailer was dispatched from the Chelsea Fire Department and booms have been deployed to contain the oil. Erickson has hired Ambrose Environmental and ENPRO Services.
Oil flowed through the storm drains toward the Mystic River. The Mystic is frozen all the way to the Amelia Earhart dam. Dam personnel have not reported any odors at the dam, which is a good sign. Pumping at the dam has ceased and will not resume until necessary or they are given the all-clear by ENPRO. The DEP believes that most of the fuel got caught up in the drainage system and that it can be collected with current efforts.
ENPRO Services had three vacuum trucks on site and operational on Monday. The first is located near the intersection of Routes 16 and 93 adjacent to the Mystic River. One is upgradient on Mystic Ave between Russo Marine and the Dialysis Center in Winter Brook. A third is across from this location on the other side of Mystic Avenue. A good deal of fuel is being reported at these locations so we’re hoping that our overall recovery will be good.
The parking lot cleanup at the Erickson facility is complete. There is a school across the street from the Erickson facility (St. Clement), but it appears that the school was not affected in any way and it was unnecessary to interrupt school operations.
The DEP, ENPRO and representatives from the city performed a drain line assessment this morning to see if there are any pockets of fuel that can still be recovered. There was a noticeable odor and a visible sheen in several of the drains. Several manhole covers were removed to inspect the water as well and an odor and sheen was also noted. ENPRO and the DEP are discussing the best cleanup method for the stormwater pipes.
The below freezing temperatures will slow down clean up work. The boom maintenance will continue. The pump trucks will not be heavily used until the temperatures increase. The DEP feels as if the storm water lines will need to be flushed to remove residual oil, but this will also have to wait. The feeling right now is that this work will be conducted this weekend. ENPRO will be maintaining a presence and representatives from the DEP and the city will also be keeping an eye on things. As long as there is floating product they are able to continue collection efforts. At the point that there is only a sheen on water, recovery efforts are no longer possible (sheens can not be collected with current technology).
Note that Erickson has accepted full responsibility for this and are paying directly for ENPRO’s services and for all disposable products used. DEP Emergency Services are part of the DEP operating budget.
Oil Spill on the Mystic 1/6
The MassDEP was notified of a release of diesel fuel from a tanker truck at the Erickson Fuel Company located at 600 Boston Ave. in Medford on Monday, January 6, 2014. The capacity of the tanker truck was 2,850 gallons. According to Erickson, the truck was holding 1,449 gallons of diesel fuel winter blend (which means that it was cut with Kerosene, which keeps the fuel liquid enough to pump). It is reported that a flange at the bottom of the tank froze during the recent frigid weather. The fuel impacted Erickson’s truck yard and the city’s storm drainage system - oil flowed through the storm drains toward the Mystic River. MassDEP responded to the incident and Medford Fire, DPW and the Environment Office have also been on scene, according to the City of Medford. A MassDEP spill trailer was dispatched from the Chelsea Fire Department and booms have been deployed to contain the oil. Erickson has hired Ambrose Environmental and ENPRO Services.
More information will be posted soon.
Tufts Community Research Center Funds Mystic Project
The Tufts Community Research Center (TCRC) selected two university-community partnerships to be the recipients of seed grant funding for implementing their proposals. The first, titled “Mitigating the stress effects of racism on health through healing, education, and empowerment,” is a partnership between Tufts and the Southern Jamaica Plain Health Center. The second project is a cooperative effort between Tufts and MyRWA to address pollution in Alewife Brook. This proposal seeks to accurately assess pollution levels and sources of phosphorus loads in the Alewife Brook. The results of this project will inform future research and action. Thank you Tufts!
2013 Annual Report Now Available
MyRWA continues to work towards improved environmental conditions in the Mystic River Watershed. Check out the 2013 Annual Report to read some of the highlights from the year, including the completion of two rain gardens! MyRWA sincerely appreciates the support from our members, friends and corporate partners that make this work possible.
Winter Wildlife Sightings
The eagles are back!
Bald eagles have been spotted at the Mystic Lakes on Mystic Valley Parkway in Medford, Arlington & Winchester. Common and Hooded Mergansers were observed as well. Please comment here about what other wildlife you've seen in the Mystic River Watershed!
