Community Corner

Blackstone River Water Quality Gets Boost From New State Grant

The Blackstone River Coalition will use the state grant to monitor items like oxygen levels and bacteria.

The Blackstone River where it flows underneath Route 146 near the Worcester-Millbury line.
The Blackstone River where it flows underneath Route 146 near the Worcester-Millbury line. (Neal McNamara/Patch)

WORCESTER, MA — A consortium of local groups that work on water quality in the Blackstone River will use a new state grant to step up monitoring efforts.

The state Department of Environmental Protection awarded $500,000 in water quality monitoring grants last week. The Blackstone River Coalition got a more than $23,000 piece of the funding to monitor the watershed.

"Funds will purchase equipment and supplies and support staff salaries to monitor for temperature, dissolved oxygen, water depth, aesthetics, nutrients, total suspended solids, conductivity, bacteria, and stream flow," the state said of the Blackstone effort in a news release.

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Twelve main groups, including Holy Cross, the Mass Audubon Society, and the Blackstone River Watershed Association, are part of the Worcester-based Blackstone River Coalition. The group's mission is to "restore and protect water quality and wildlife habitat in the river corridors, and to advocate for sound land use in the Blackstone River watershed."

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