Highlights of Event: "Water: Our Most Valuable Resource" Speaker: Kate Bowditch of the Charles River Watershed Association (CRWA)

1. Water Issues Highlighted at Wellesley Library
By Peter Rovick – Wellesley Trails Committee
26OCT10
http://crwa.org/articles/2010/waterissuesatlibrary.html
These days, the song title You’ve Come A Long Way Baby might be a more accurate tag line for the
Charles River than the ever-popular Dirty Water played on local radio and at Red Sox games. That said,
we have a long way to go to maintain the Charles and area waters if hoping even to maintain conditions
for the water sources that serve all of us.
The Wellesley Trails Committee and the Wellesley Garden Study
Group sponsored an event on October 26 at the Wellesley Free
Library entitled Water: Our Most Valuable Resource. Featured
speaker Kate Bowditch, Director of Projects, for the Charles River
Watershed Association (CRWA) engaged the audience with insights
into important water issues facing the town of Wellesley and the state
of Massachusetts. Diane Hall, member of the CRWA Board of
Directors and member of the Wellesley Trails Committee, was the
primary event planner and introduced Kate, noting that the Charles
River, once one of the most polluted urban rivers in the USA, is now
one of the cleanest in the nation. Diane also pointed to a poster board
which showed how the river used to take whatever color was flushed in
each day depending on what color dye was used by local
manufacturers. We certainly have come a long way baby.
Kate Bowditch shared an overview of water tables in Massachusetts and
issues affecting them. Sewage and storm water drainage, whether combined
or separated in local waste systems strongly affect the conditions of our
state aquifers (underground beds or layers yielding ground water for wells
and springs etc.). Kate also highlighted the sources of water in our
municipal sewage systems, including leakage (often through old clay pipes),
standard industrial, commercial, and residential sewage, and storm water
drainage (water from precipitation.)
Phosphorous remains a hazard to the aquifer. Kate mentioned that several
communities now are taking action against the use of phosphorous in
fertilizers – apparently the phosphorous is not a necessary component of
fertilizer as it already exists in most substances.
Kate provided statistics on historical percentage changes of sources of
sewage and potential contaminants, noting increases in rates of
contamination by industry and commercial operations. Potential current and future ways to address the
problem were discussed, including pervious paving solutions and sub-terrainian tanks which enable
companies/organizations with large paved surfaces (e.g. big box retailers, corporations, government) to
capture precipitation and enable it to drain into the ground/water table, instead into sewage systems,
which often drain to the Deer Island treatment facility and subsequently into the ocean, instead of into our
local water tables.

2. Necessity often is the mother of invention, and Kate cited examples of local towns like Franklin that
recently have come close to severe water shortages, and in are relatively more active in promoting
legislation and in requiring new standards and methods of ensuring that aquifers are replenished and
protected.
Kate concluded the program by fielding questions from the audience, which included staff of Wellesley
College, employees of the Wellesley NRC, and members of the Wellesley Trails Committee, a volunteer
subset organization of the NRC.
The program was a welcome and educational reminder of the fragile state of our water system in
Massachusetts and across the USA. Kate and members of the audience noted that community
participation in water issues is vital to promotion of ways to ensure that our environment will be protected
and that clean water will be available for future generations.
Peter Rovick is a member of the Wellesley Trails Committee, an advisor to the Wellesley Conservation
Council, and is Chair of the Babson Alumni Green Forum.
For more information:
• CRWA: http://www.crwa.org/
• Wellesley Trails Committee: www.wellesleytrails.org
• Wellesley Natural Resources Commission:
http://www.ci.wellesley.ma.us/pages/wellesleyma_NRC/index