Current Water Quality 
Many people and industries dump oil, used paints, and other toxic wasted into the river.  From the street drains, these waters empty into the nearest stream or river and continue on to the Blackstone.  Even small amounts of some toxins - the equivalent of a drop in a bathtub – can kill aquatic life. 

Today, the Blackstone River, from the Massachusetts border to the falls at Pawtucket, is classified as class C, suitable only for boating and other secondary contact recreation, fish and wildlife habitat, and industrial processing and cooling. The Peters and Mill rivers are classified as B waters, suitable for public water supply with suitable treatment, agricultural use, bathing, and other primary contact recreational activities, and fish and wildlife habitat. The Branch River is classified as C above Slatersville Reservoir, and B through the reservoir to its confluence with the Blackstone. 

The water quality of the Blackstone River continues to be affected by sewage discharges, combined sewer overflows, urban and agricultural runoff, and leaching from active and abandoned landfills. At its mouth, the Blackstone shows high concentrations of many pollutants. This pollution, combined with the large flow of the river, makes the Blackstone the major riverine source of oxygen-consuming materials (BOD), fecal coliform bacteria, nitrogen, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), petroleum hydrocarbons (PHCs), and many metals (cadmium, copper, nickel, chromium, lead) to upper Narragansett Bay. 

The Upper Blackstone Water Pollution Abatement District (UBWPAD) wastewater treatment facility in Worcester is the largest source of pollution entering the Blackstone in Massachusetts. The Blackstone is a small river when it flows through Worcester, providing minimal dilution for domestic and industrial discharges from the city. In the summer, the plant's discharge of 56 million gallons a day can actually exceed the flow of the river. 

Though the UBWPAD plant does an exemplary job removing conventional, oxygen-consuming materials from the wastewater, it is not as effective in treating toxic wastes received from industrial discharges. The plant accounts for 77 to 96 percent of the cadmium, copper, chromium, nickel, and zinc, discharged to the Blackstone River in Massachusetts. 

The river also receives wastes in Rhode Island, including discharges from the city of Woonsocket, and wastes from industries producing batteries, insulated wire and cable, and blown glassware. Sewer overflows from the Blackstone Valley District Commission collection system can have serious effects on the river's water quality in wet weather. 

In 1988, the state of Massachusetts reported to Congress that all of the river was polluted and not suitable for bathing. In Rhode Island, the entire 16 miles of river was not suitable for boating and other secondary contact recreation, as fish and wildlife habitat, or as industrial water supply. 

There are still major gaps in our knowledge and understanding of the Blackstone River.  Despite a fair body of information on the Blackstone, there remain some unresolved issues.  The lack of monitoring and watch over the river has caused water quality and other problems.  Lack of information on wet weather inputs, nonpoint source locations and pollutant contributions, sediment interactions, water withdrawal impacts, and biological responses makes it difficult to identify and prioritize management strategies with great certainty. 

The cooperation and coordination between Massachusetts and Rhode Island and with other agencies has been inadequate to protect and improve the Blackstone River.  Although the USEPA, MA and RI all consider the river’s pollution a problem, to date insufficient interstate and interagency coordination has taken place. 
 

Protection of the Blackstone River Corridor 
During the early 1970s, citizens interested in restoring the Blackstone's waters and adjacent lands formed the Blackstone River Watershed Association. This organization, and other groups in the Blackstone Valley, lobbied for parkland development along the river in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Massachusetts designated the Blackstone River and Canal Heritage State Park, a linear park extending from Worcester to the Rhode Island border. In 1983, Rhode Island formed the Blackstone River State Park along a three-mile segment of the Blackstone canal and towpath. This park has now grown to include 150 acres in Lincoln and Cumberland. 

In 1986, the Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor was established by Congress to preserve and interpret the significant historic and cultural lands, waterways, and structures within the valley. The National Park Service is working with Rhode Island and Massachusetts to pursue park development along the River and to coordinate a valley-wide land use strategy. 

In Rhode Island, the Department of Environmental Management is developing a greenway along the Blackstone between the villages of Albion and Berkley. A bikeway is also under development, which will ultimately extend from India Point Park in Providence west to North Smithfield and east to Bristol. 

EPA Region 1 - For Immediate Release: July 19, 1999 Release # 99-7-11 
EPA Announces Actions To Revitalize Blackstone And Woonasquatucket Rivers 
BLACKSTONE, Mass. - Before a star-studded crowd near the scenic Blackstone River Gorge, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency New England Administrator John P. DeVillars today announced that the EPA and 13 other federal agencies have signed an agreement committing the federal partners to marshal all of their resources to bring about the cleanup and restoration of the Blackstone River and the Woonasquatucket River. 
DeVillars also announced that his agency will be awarding $237,100 of grants to support the revitalization of the two urban rivers. The grants will be used for water quality monitoring, wetlands protection, River Ranger education programs, pollution abatement projects and a host of other activities. 
The announcements were made at a loud and enthusiastic gathering of citizens, community leaders and political leaders to celebrate the designation of the Blackstone and the Woonasquatucket as officially-designated American Heritage Rivers. The rivers were among 14 that were selected nationally from among 126 nominations. 
"Bike paths, water parks, riverboats, fishing, Water Fire exhibits - all of it's happening on the Blackstone and the Woonasquatucket," said DeVillars, who was flanked today by U.S. Senator John H. Chafee, U.S. Representative Jim McGovern and a host of other dignitaries. "The turnaround these rivers are seeing is remarkable and the purpose of the American Heritage Rivers Initiative is to take these revitalization projects even further." 
"In earning the designation as an American Heritage River, we have been given the opportunity to realize ambitious plans," said U.S. Senator Chafee. "I hope that in a year, this group can reconvene to tick off a list of promises kept and goals achieved for the rivers and communities along this watershed." 
"The Blackstone-Woonasquatucket Valley represents our past, present and future," added U.S. Representative Jim McGovern. "The new American Heritage River partnership will make sure that local communities have access to federal funding and support services. And the funding announced by EPA today will help keep the rivers clean and our environment healthy. I also want to commend Administrator DeVillars for his continuing commitment to our region." 
The grants that will be awarded in the coming weeks include the following: 
? $100,000 to the R.I. Department of Environmental Management to fund nonpoint pollution abatement projects on the Woonasquatucket River and in the Blackstone River watershed. 
? $25,000 of wetlands grants to the City of Providence to help the city develop a plan for restoring a wetlands buffer along the banks of the Woonasquatucket River. The plan is part of a cooperative effort with the R.I. Department of Transportation and the City of Providence to construct the Woonasquatucket River Greenway/Bikeway. 
? $43,000 of American Heritage River Grants to support various activities in and along both rivers. The Providence Plan will receive $26,000 of the funds for use on the Woonasquatucket River and the remaining $17,000 will go to the Blackstone Valley Heritage Corridor Commission. 
? $49,100 of Urban River Grants for Save The Bay and the Northern Rhode Island Conservation District to conduct wet weather data gathering and monitoring on the Woonasquatucket and develop multi-lingual education and outreach materials on "Do's and Don't's for the Woonasquatucket River." 
? a $20,000 Urban Environmental Initiative grant to help the Providence Plan expand its River Ranger education program on the Woonasquatucket River. 
Community leaders for the two rivers praised the announcement of the grants. 
"The communities along the Woonasquatucket River welcome this opportunity to celebrate the American Heritage River program and thank Senator Chafee and John DeVillars for their leadership in this initiative," said Jane Sherman of the Woonasquatucket River American Heritage River Steering Committee. "While we celebrate our rivers, we are challenged by environmental concerns along the Woonasquatucket River. We appreciate the financial assistance from EPA and the cooperation of our federal partners as we work together to reclaim this wonderful river for our communities." 
Today's ceremony also included the signing of a four-page memorandum of agreement, in which the federal agencies agreed to work together on the American Heritage River partnership to coordinate local initiatives with federal plans and programs for preserving and restoring the two rivers. 
The partnership, which will be headed up by EPA-New England through its recently-appointed River Navigator, Johanna Hunter, includes the following federal partners: the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Cooperative Extension, Forest Service and Natural Resources Conservation Service; the U.S. Department of Commerce's National Marine Fisheries Service and Economic Development Agency; the U.S. Department of the Interior's Fish and Wildlife Service, Geological Survey, National Biological Service and National Park Service; the U.S. Department of Transportation; the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development; and Federal Emergency Management Administration 

Information sources:  listed article (in text), DEM, and http://www.nps.gov/blac/updown.htm 

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