DEM says river needs cleanup

RUNNING RIVER: Kyle Schmitt, left, and Jeremy Quaglia are the two 24-year-old owners of Homestead Hard Cider in Attleboro, near the Ten Mile River. / PBN PHOTO/DAVID LEVESQUE
RUNNING RIVER: Kyle Schmitt, left, and Jeremy Quaglia are the two 24-year-old owners of Homestead Hard Cider in Attleboro, near the Ten Mile River. / PBN PHOTO/DAVID LEVESQUE

Perched at the edge of the Ten Mile River in Attleboro, Homestead Hard Cider is the vision made real by two 24-year-old hometown entrepreneurs who happen to be in perfect synch with the revitalization of their city and a two-state focus on improving water quality in the river that runs through Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
“The Ten Mile River is quite literally under our window,” said Jeremy Quaglia, co-founder of Homestead Hard Cider, a new business celebrating the arrival of 2014 with the official start of fermenting, bottling and distribution of craft ciders. Located in 500 square feet in a former factory at 81 West St., the Ten Mile River is nearly woven into the structure of Homestead Hard Cider.
“This section of the river is only about 10 feet wide, and one of the companies that was in the building before built an extension over the river for a loading dock for freight,” said Quaglia. “To get our goods in and out of the building, we have to cross the river.”
Attleboro may have the most visible ties to the river that snakes through it, but Rhode Island also has a strong connection to the waterway that has been plagued by pollution. The R.I. Department of Environmental Management has a public meeting scheduled for Jan. 8 to gather input for the state’s Ten Mile River water-quality-restoration plan.
The Ten Mile River and its impoundments, Central Pond, Turner Reservoir and Omega Pond, do not meet state water-quality standards for total phosphorus, dissolved oxygen, pathogens and several metals, including aluminum, cadmium, lead and iron, according to a Dec. 23 DEM news release announcing the public meeting.
“Wastewater and stormwater discharges are two of the most significant sources of pollution to the river,” according to DEM.
The DEM Office of Water Resources has prepared a draft of a water-quality-restoration plan consistent with the requirements of the federal Clean Water Act. “The plan calls for a series of improvements in water quality that will relate mostly to the municipalities of East Providence and Pawtucket,” said Rhode Island Deputy Chief of Water Resources Elizabeth Scott. “We’re looking at improvements in the way they maintain their stormwater systems, because urban stormwater runoff is the primary source of pollution in the river.”
While that would admittedly incur costs, the improvements would be phased in, said Scott. Some basic steps could be increased, such as working with commercial and industrial property owners to make sure parking lots and waste disposal areas are managed to keep debris or pollutants from flowing into the river.
On a wider scale, accumulated sediments should be removed from roads and catch basins so they don’t run off into the river and cities will be encouraged to look into trenches along the road with stone as a filtration system, Scott said.
“I think they’re on the right track, trying to limit the pollution and the runoff,” said Ben Cote, who lives in Pawtucket and is president of the Ten Mile River Watershed Council.
The Ten Mile River was like many waterways that suffered the polluting impacts of the industrial revolution and dumping into the rivers before clean-water laws came into effect.
“There were so many years of industrial waste,” said Cote.
The mission of the council is to promote the restoration of the Ten Mile River watershed and encourage and support recreational activities within the watershed in Rhode Island and Massachusetts.
The river is actually 22 miles long, according to the watershed council. The headwaters of the river are at Savage Pond in Plainville, Mass. The river flows through North Attleboro, Attleboro and Seekonk before entering Rhode Island. Then the river meanders through Pawtucket and East Providence, where it flows over Omega Dam into the Seekonk River and empties into the Providence River and Narragansett Bay. “We pull a lot of debris out of the river during our cleanups,” said Cote. “People paddle on the river, but I wouldn’t recommend anyone swim in the river south of Attleboro.
“Still, the river has come a long way,” said Cote. “Wildlife is returning. I’ve seen otters and beavers.”
In Attleboro, people fish in the Ten Mile River, despite stigma from the days of industrial waste and uncertainty about its current condition, said Kyle Schmitt, co-founder of Homestead Hard Cider. When visitors come to see the new cider business, they often ask about the river, he said.
The city is already moving along on cleanup efforts.
Attleboro received a $7 million grant to assess and clean contamination on property along the riverside.
Mass. Gov. Deval Patrick was in Attleboro Nov. 8 and announced the approval of a $4 million grant for a new road parallel to the Ten Mile River. The project will open up land for private residential and commercial development, as well as a public park.
In Rhode Island, canoeing and kayaking are common on the Ten Mile River, said Cote. The 3-mile-long Ten Mile River Greenway from East Providence to Pawtucket gives people a chance to “bike it or hike it.”
Then there is Ten Mile River State Park, located in Pawtucket.
Rhode Island’s water-quality restoration plan will help bring attention to the river and awareness that will continue to improve it,” said Cote.
“I think of the Ten Mile River, and other natural places, as a member of the family or a friend,” said Cote. “We want more people to appreciate it and to speak up for it – to be the voice of the river.” •

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