The Opportunity for Neponset
River
Restoration is Now!
Since
the 1970s, an extraordinary improvement in the water quality
of the
Neponset
River
has occurred. Untreated industrial wastewater discharges and
sewer overflows are gone (although toxic sediments from these
historic discharges still remain on the river bottom). Public
lands along the waterfront are being opened up for
recreational use and a growing number of people are enjoying
the river once again. Where private property owners once
turned their back on the Neponset, a spate of recent
redevelopment projects are helping to reorient neighborhoods
back toward the river.
The
Neponset River Restoration Project presents a unique opportunity to
continue the revitalization of neighborhoods along the river
by making it cleaner, more accessible, and more natural. The
Project would restore historic spawning runs of herring and
shad for 17 miles up the Neponset by removing two obsolete
state dams (the Baker Dam in Lower Mills Dorchester and
Milton, and the T&H Dam in Hyde Park and Milton), while
creating unimpeded canoeing from Walpole to the sea. At the
same time, it would help to clean up toxic polychlorinated
biphenyls or PCBs
that still linger in river-bottom sediments and in the flesh
of fish caught in the river.
The Project would also reduce
the risk of flooding, remove “junk” from the riverbed and
restore the stream channel to a more natural shape and flow
that will enhance recreation, wildlife and aesthetics.
Furthermore, if the Baker and T&H Dams were removed,
Massachusetts
taxpayers would be spared the multi-million dollar cost of
indefinitely repairing and maintaining two obsolete
state-owned dams.
See
the Summary of Major Benefits of the Neponset River
Restoration Project, below, and learn more about its
History & Background and
Opportunities for Community Participation.
Share
Your Opinion, Get Involved, or Just Stay Informed. Once
you've reviewed the information on this website, we'd like to
get your feedback. If you would like your voice to be heard,
or just to be kept informed about the latest developments
regarding the Restoration Project, please fill out the Questionnaire.
You can also
send us your comments and questions or obtain additional
information by e-mailing us at staff@neponset.org
or by
phoning Ian Cooke or Steve Pearlman at 781-575-0354.
Read a letter of support for the Neponset River Restoration Project,
signed by major statewide and regional organizations.
Summary
of Major Benefits of Neponset
River
Restoration Project
Scroll
to bottom of page for access to more detailed discussion of
benefits.
River
Restoration Restore Herring and Shad Runs.
Herring
and shad—migratory fish species that swam up the
Neponset
River
to lay their eggs for thousands of years—now have no access
to the river beyond the Baker Dam. If the river were open,
American shad, blueback herring, and rainbow smelt would come
from the ocean to lay their eggs upstream, and their offspring
would head back to the ocean in the fall. Shad and herring
make up a large part of the diets of popular salt water sport
fish such as striped bass and bluefish. Resident freshwater
fish species, such as largemouth bass and sunfish, would also
benefit. Dam removal is the only way to fully restore herring
and shad runs.
River
Restoration Will Improve Boating.
Removing the Baker and T&H Dams would greatly
improve recreational boating on the
Neponset
River
. The dams and their ponds would be replaced with a calm
pools, smooth moving water, riffles and small rapids. The
primary hazard to novice boaters—the dams—would be
eliminated. The drudgery of carrying boats around dams would
be replaced with a continuous “water-trail” from
Walpole
to
Boston
Harbor
.
River
Restoration Will Combine PCB Cleanup with Habitat &
Recreational Improvements,
while reducing human health risk from eating contaminated
Neponset River fish incidental contact with the water and mud
along the shore of the Neponset River is safe, even for
children; and there is no danger in boating on the river.
However, PCB’s in
Neponset
River
sediments have poisoned bottom-feeding fish and pose a
significant risk to people who eat them. A state Public Health
Advisory warns people not to eat white suckers caught in the
river from
Walpole
to Boston/Milton and to limit consumption of brown bullhead
(hornpout) to two meals per month (children, nursing mothers
and women who are or may become pregnant shouldn’t eat any).
Additional fish species will be tested this summer. Dam
removal would require the state to clean up most of the PCBs
in the mud, reducing the risk of eating fish from the river
and stopping the migration of PCBs into the Neponset River
Estuary where health and environmental risks have not yet been
assessed. If the dams remain, it is unlikely that any action
will be taken to clean up the PCB’s. Even if a cleanup
without dam removal were to occur, state hazardous waste rules
would allow it to be conducted without regard to stream
habitat, recreational use or post-cleanup aesthetics. A recent
Boston Globe editorial
describing GE’s PCB clean-up of the Housatonic River stated, “What had been a tree-lined stream wandering through backyards is
now a ‘ditch.’” The Neponset Ecological Restoration
Project would save the lower Neponset from a similar fate.
River
Restoration Will Reduce Long-term Maintenance Costs for State
Taxpayers.
According to a recent study for the state Riverways
Program, it would cost approximately $2 million to remove the
two dams versus $7.2 million to maintain and operate them for
another 30 years. In addition, federal grant money may be
available for dam removal where as no such outside funding is
available for dam maintenance.
River
Restoration Will Reduce Flooding.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has concluded that
the Baker and T&H Dams serve no flood control purpose. In
fact, during 1968 during a relatively modest 40 year storm,
the Baker Dam caused the Neponset Greenway bike path, the MBTA
trolley station and the
Wharf Street
area to be flooded with up to three feet of water. A failure
of the Baker Dam would be particularly dangerous because the
dam is part of the foundations of the buildings on either side
of the river. The latest engineering inspection of the Baker
Dam concludes that it is a “significant hazard” dam,
meaning that “failure may cause loss of life and damage to
homes (and property).
River
Restoration Will Restore Lost Wetlands and other key
ecological features of the River.
Removing
the dams creates the opportunity to restore a substantial
portion of the wetlands that once bordered the river. Wetlands
add to the natural beauty of the river, act as a nursery and
habitat for a wide variety of fish and wildlife, help hold
back floodwaters and filter pollutants out of the water.
June
2008
