| Concord River | |
|---|---|
 The Concord River at theOld North Bridge,Concord, Massachusetts, circa 1900 | |
 | |
| Location | |
| Country | United States |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Source | |
| • location | Sudbury andAssabet Rivers,Concord, Massachusetts |
| • coordinates | 42°27′55″N71°21′29″W / 42.4654°N 71.3580°W /42.4654; -71.3580 |
| • elevation | 50 ft (15 m) |
| Mouth | |
• location | Merrimack River,Lowell, Massachusetts |
• coordinates | 42°38′47″N71°18′09″W / 42.6465°N 71.3025°W /42.6465; -71.3025 |
| Length | 16.3 mi (26.2 km) |
| Basin size | 377 sq mi (980 km2) |
| Type | Recreational |
| Designated | April 9, 1999 |
TheConcord River is a 16.3-mile-long (26.2 km)[1]tributary of theMerrimack River in easternMassachusetts, United States. The river drains a small rural, suburban region northwest ofBoston. As one of the most notable small rivers in U.S. history, it was the scene of an important earlybattle of theAmerican Revolutionary War and was the subject of a 19th-century book byHenry David Thoreau.
The river begins inMiddlesex County, formed by the confluence of theSudbury andAssabet Rivers atEgg Rock, near theConcord town center. It flows generally north, from eastern Concord (along the northwestern edge of theBoston metropolitan area), joining the Merrimack River from the south on the eastern side ofLowell. It is a gently flowing stream with little variation in topography along most of its route. Itsdrainage basin stretches intoWorcester County and includes 36 towns within Massachusetts.
Native Americans called it theMusketaquid or "grass-grown" river because its sluggish waters abound in aquatic or semi-aquatic vegetation and its banks are fringed with wild grasses and sedges which stretch for miles along both sides of this placid stream.[2] This creates an ideal environment for a variety of fish, includingbass,shad,alewife (river herring),pickerel,carp andAmerican eel.[3] Native Americans wove sticks in intricate designs to trap alewives and other migrating fish at the mouths of rivers throughout this region.[4]'Musketoquid' was listed as a 'noted habitation' of native people in New England in 1634.[5]
By 1635, settlers from England began to arrive, giving the river its current name.[6] On April 19, 1775, theOld North Bridge over the river in the town of Concord was the scene of the famousBattle of Concord (occurring on the same day when the first shots of the Revolutionary War were fired at nearbyLexington). The current version of the bridge (a reproduction) is preserved by theNational Park Service.
Henry David Thoreau wrote his first book,A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers, in 1849 while living at nearbyWalden Pond. His book recounted a seven-day boat trip on the rivers with his brother John, who had since died. Thoreau recounted his exploration of the natural beauty of the river, and his accompanying thoughts on such eternal themes as truth, poetry, travel and friendship. Despitethe development of suburbs near the river, it remains a popular canoeing destination today.[7] The last mile of the river in Lowell is seriousclass 3+/4 whitewater.[8]
Dams were built along the Concord River to increase crop production and also to provide a source of power for operatingmills. As a result, by the 19th century, the native fish populations ofshad andalewife became extinct because the dams prevented the mature fish from returning upstream to spawn.[9] Alewife and otheranadromous fish are migratory. They hatch in freshwater, make their way to the sea to mature, then return as adults to freshwater tospawn, usually near where they had hatched. This instinct is imprinted within the fish when it is born. When the route upstream became blocked, this cycle was broken and the fish were unable to survive without it. The Faulkner Dam inNorth Billerica is just one of many blockages that caused the alewife population to collapse on the Concord River.[10] Water was later diverted north to Lowell and south toCharlestown to run theMiddlesex Canal.
During the 19th century, the Concord River was a hub of industrial activity during the USIndustrial Revolution. This led to environmental challenges as industrial wastes, untreatedsewage, and other organic waste were dumped into the river.[11] Industrial development peaked in the 1920s, contributing to the pollution of the river. By the 1960s, theMerrimack River into which the Concord River empties, was considered one of the top 10 most polluted waterways in America.[12]
Following the passage of theClean Water Act in 1972, the United States initiated efforts to enhance the quality of America's water bodies. This legislation imposed more stringent regulations on point source discharges into rivers and other navigable waters. As a result, threewastewater treatment plants were constructed along the banks of the Concord River: one inConcord and two inBillerica. These facilities played a crucial role in preventing further degradation of the river ecosystem by operating within federally mandated limits.[13]
Pollutants such asheavy metals andPCBs continue to be trapped in the sediment of the Sudbury River and downstream into the Concord River. As a result, fish consumption is prohibited in such areas, due to the presence of mercury-laden sediment originating from the Nyanza Superfund site and other sources.[12][14]
In August 2004,perchlorate was detected in the Concord River. Initially, it was believed thatexplosives used in nearby road and building construction may have caused this contamination.[15] However, an investigation by the town of Billerica eventually determined that the source was a local company that produced surgical and medical materials. The company had been using 220 gallons ofperchloric acid per month in ableaching process, with the rinse water being discharged into thesewage system. Following this investigation, the company voluntarily ceased operations until it could installion exchange equipment to comply with environmental regulations.[16]
In May 2007, Billerica faced legal action and was fined $250,000 for releasing pollutants into the Concord River. This action was taken by theU.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and theMassachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) due to the town exceeding allowable effluent limits forphosphorus,fecal coliform bacteria,pH, andammonia nitrogen. Additionally, the town was charged with failing to submit discharge monitoring reports, complying with monitoring requirements, and failing to submit infiltration and inflow reporting. The EPA stated that Billerica's phosphorus discharges resulted in an excess of nutrients released in the river, leading to harmful excessive growth ofaquatic plants.[9]
In May 2000, theU.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Massachusetts Riverways Program, and volunteers from theSudbury Valley Trustees (SVT) released 7,000 adultalewives into the Concord River. They were transferred from theNemasket River so that they could lay their eggs and spawn upstream. This imprinted the young alewives with the Concord as their new home river.[10] The experiment did not succeed, as too few fish returned to the base of the first dam on the Concord River. A feasibility study published in 2016 is again exploring steps necessary for returningdiadromous fish to the Concord River, and farther upstream, to the Sudbury and Assabet Rivers.[17]
{{cite journal}}:Cite journal requires|journal= (help)
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
