Group spurs clean water; Monitoring the Blackstone.

Byline: Linda Bock

BLACKSTONE - Charles P. Sweet has volunteered to collect water samples from the West River at Route 16, and from Meadow Brook, a little stream that flows through the Water Department in Uxbridge, several times a year, for years.

Both waterways are a part of the Blackstone River watershed, which stretches from the brooks that form its headwaters in Worcester to its mouth in Pawtucket, R.I. A watershed is the land over which rain and snowmelt flow to a particular water body, such as a lake or a pond. Its boundary is the ridgeline, or the highest hills, around the water body. Water either infiltrates to ground water or drains to a waterway, taking with it any substances on the land.

Dr. Sweet, who is one of the Blackstone River watershed water quality monitor volunteers, moved to Uxbridge in 1979 and has lived near the West River since 1980. He has participated in stream surveys and taught an environmental medicine course for five years at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Dr. Sweet was one of the dozens of volunteers from Massachusetts and Rhode Island who attended the Blackstone River Coalition's summit yesterday to hear the annual water quality update of the Blackstone Valley watershed at the Blackstone Public Library, 86 Main St. "The state could never hire, or afford enough people to collect all this data, but this data will be helpful on so many levels," Dr. Sweet said. He previously served on the Board of Health in Uxbridge. For example, he said, "for the Board of Health, it makes sense for us to be strict with septic systems near Emerson Brook."

When towns first adopted conservation commissions about 30 years ago, he said, they worked to make sure regulations would not get in people's way.

"Now it's different," Dr. Sweet said. "Conservation commissions are working to make sure regulations are enforced."

Despite years of progress, the river still has a way to go to reach Class B water quality standards. The major causes are storm-water and wastewater treatment plants and contaminated sediments. According to Donna M. Williams, president of the coalition, another prime factor in water quality is the runoff, or excess water not absorbed by land and lawns, and runoff from driveways that goes into storm drains in the streets."Outreach is the main theme," Ms. Williams said. To those attending the summit, she said she was "preaching to the choir" and the challenge for the coalition is to reach out to homeowners, business and farm owners on the importance of reducing the pollutants washed into the waterways.

Water samples are collected and tested on the second Saturday of the month from April to November. Sites must be sampled at least six times out of eight possible monitoring times, and the backbone of the Blackstone River Watershed coalition is the almost 80 volunteers monitoring the 76 sites in the water quality monitoring program. The data they collect makes up the annual report card, and ultimately informs their action plans and outreach efforts.

"We could never be in all these areas without your help," said Tammy Gilpatrick, program coordinator for the Blackstone River Coalition.

Waterways in 2007 that received a "poor" rating for healthy nutrients included the Middle River in Worcester, Sewall Brook in Boylston, and the Blackstone River, north of the Stanley Woolen Mill in Uxbridge. Waterways that received a rating of "good" for healthy nutrient levels included the West River under the Route 16 bridge in Uxbridge, Dark Brook in Sutton and Muddy Brook in Mendon. Nutrients promote excessive growth of plants, said Cindy Delpapa, of the river-ways program, and the main nutrients in water are nitrogen and phosphorus.

Besides nutrients, the water is tested for temperature, aesthetics, smell and oxygen levels.

The Blackstone River Coalition is a nonprofit organization that partners with numerous local, state and federal organizations in efforts to make the Blackstone River healthy by 2015. The next training for volunteers will be held in March, and for more information or to volunteer, contact Tammy Gilpatrick at [e-mail] or visit the Web site zaptheblackstone.org.