The Assabet has a history of pollution problems and continues to be affected by discharges from four major sewage treatment plants. It also is suffering from runoff and water-use problems associated with intensive suburban development. This year, OAR's citizen water quality monitoring program was granted federal certification so that its findings can be used in enforcement actions and to set pollution limits. It smells like a sewer. Nonetheless, the river is treasured.
People have to remember it is something really wonderful.
It's a beautiful river. In the last two years, OAR has managed to get the state and federal governments to impose tighter discharge guidelines on sewer plants that will be in effect for three years. They have also gotten the plants to begin planning for tighter phosphorous discharge limits after that. But that is only half of the battle, as they see it. Saving the river will require a major shift in the way people live and build in the watershed as development intensifies.