Protecting the Blackstone River

This cool, brisk Saturday morning WA students worked with the city to raise awareness within the neighborhood about pollution of our local waterway. Students stenciled catch basins and dropped off fliers and information sheets to households. Rain run-off from the upper level of campus and west flows into the Blackstone River  (45 mile long river that is fed by headwaters throughout the Worcester area and that flows to Narraganset) and to the east into the Broad Meadow Brook, which in turn feeds the Blackstone further to the south.

Capable of destruction of fish and wildlife, loss of aesthetic value, and of threats to public health through food, water supplies, and recreation, run-off water pollutants include pet waste, oil and other vehicle fluids, lawn fertilizer, pesticides, hazardous wastes, and physical objects such as yard debris and litter.

For more information on Worcester’s Storm Water Management Program call 508-799-1480, go to dpw, and/or go to the EPA site for sewer line risk information ssoenweb.pdf

Kettle Brook Clean Up #1

WA Students

Parker-Metals

Kettle Brook Reservoir #3

Kettle Brook Collage

Kettle Brook Res. #1

Kettle Brook Res #2

Kettle Brook Falls

Old Landfill

Kettle Brook Res. #4

As part of their school community service obligation, 10 WA students spent a cold Saturday morning earlier this spring pulling the likes of tires, metal scrap, a metal barrel, and a car fender from the Kettle Brook and its banks as the brook flows along the edge of New Balance Fields.

The Kettle Brook is one of the major northern headwaters of the Blackstone River. One of the most fascinating elements of the brook is how it connects four of the city of Worcester’s drinking water reservoirs before flowing into Cherry Valley, the southwest corner of the city, along New Balance Fields, through an industrial corridor on route to the Blackstone. Pristine pictures of the Kettle Brook Reservoirs, above, obscures the impacts of nearby roads, old land fills, agricultural land, and tributary streams running through neighborhoods. (Click on photos for more details).