In the watersheds examined, in general the smaller headwater streams exhibit better water quality than downstream major rivers. Since the health of the major rivers is strongly affected by the health of the streams that feed into them, this is good news. But it’s also a cautionary tale. Development pressures can be high in the very areas where the high quality tributary streams flow. Maintaining undeveloped buffer land adjacent to streams and wetlands to filter runoff from roads and lawns, placing road crossings and culverts so flow and the movement of fish and other river animals is not restricted, and minimizing impacts to wetland areas are some actions that are being taken to protect these headwater streams.
The water quality of our rivers reflects the activities occurring in the surrounding watershed. Rivers are relied on to receive wastewater and industrial discharges and stormwater runoff from developed land. Urban stormwater conveys a variety of pollutants, such as fertilizers that can be a source of excess nutrients.
Wood-Pawcatuck Watershed
This watershed encompasses a 300-square-mile area of land in southern Rhode Island and southeastern Connecticut. The watershed covers about 25 percent of Rhode Island’s landmass. Its seven major drainage basins include the Queen, Wood, Chickasheen, Chipuxet, Shunock, Green Falls and Pawcatuck rivers, and their tributaries. It is one of the few remaining relatively pristine natural areas along the Northeast corridor between New York and Boston.
This watershed encompasses a 300-square-mile area of land in southern Rhode Island and southeastern Connecticut. The watershed covers about 25 percent of Rhode Island’s landmass. Its seven major drainage basins include the Queen, Wood, Chickasheen, Chipuxet, Shunock, Green Falls and Pawcatuck rivers, and their tributaries. It is one of the few remaining relatively pristine natural areas along the Northeast corridor between New York and Boston.
The Nature Conservancy has identified the borderlands between Rhode Island and Connecticut as containing the last large forested track south of Boston. The Wood River was identified in a National Parks Service study as having the highest biodiversity of any river in New England. Despite its proximity to major metropolitan areas, the watershed remains 80 percent forested, which helps maintain its excellent habitat quality.
The Wood-Pawcatuck watershed offers unparalleled recreational opportunities. It contains 57 canoeable river miles, numerous streams in pristine forest for fishing for native brook trout and stocked brown and rainbow trout, and five state management areas for hiking, biking, hunting, birding and natures studies. Congress is currently considering a bill to direct the National Parks Service to study the watershed for inclusion in the Wild and Scenic Rivers System.
The Shannock portion of the Pawcatuck River is currently undergoing fish passage projects — paid for in part by American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) stimulus money. One dam has been removed in lower Shannock, a fish ladder and eel-way has been completed around the iconic Horseshoe Dam and a rock ramp is expected to be built at Kenyon Industries this summer. Once completed it is anticipated that herring and shad will have access to quality spawning grounds in the upper Pawcatuck.
Water quality is acceptable or partially acceptable throughout most of the watershed. Areas of the most concern are sections of the rivers below working industrial sites. These include sections on the Pawcatuck River below Kenyon and Bradford, and the Ashaway River. Canochet Brook may have influences from inadequate septic systems and former mill activities, and the Chickasheen has agricultural influences.
The lower Pawcatuck is in a more heavily urbanized area of the watershed and has problems with road runoff, inadequate septic systems and agricultural input. There is one section just below the Connecticut border where it’s not unusual to see cows in the river.
Editor’s note: This article is an excerpt from one on ecoRI.org. The Narragansett Bay Watershed Counts report originally was published in the Summer 2012 Narragansett Bay Journal.