Four years into its goal of making the Mystic River watershed fishable and swimmable by 2010, the Mystic Watershed Collaborative (MWC) is still struggling to develop a progress report.
But participants said that the goal is too ambitious without more outside intervention.
The MWC is a partnership between Tufts and the Mystic River Watershed Association (MyRWA). The Collaborative conducts research, monitors river quality, holds programs to teach the community about the river, and arranges river clean-ups.
"It's incredibly difficult to take highly polluted rivers and make them fishable and swimmable," said Molly Mead, the Lincoln-Filene professor at the University College.
Because the project is relatively new, a lack of data and research on the river has prevented the MWC from tracking the progress of its goal.
Mead called the goal "incredibly bold and ambitious."
As more data is collected, MWC Director of Stewardship and Outreach Janet Kovner said, a progress report is "certainly something the Collaborative wants to take on."
While clean-ups are helpful for the river, civil and environmental engineering professor John Durant said, the biggest progress has been made by the surrounding cities pressuring factories to not continue polluting the river. The most valuable work "can only be done by municipalities," he said.
"Clean-ups are more of a symbolic action," said sophomore Chelsea Bardot, a University College Scholar and one of the three student representatives to the MWC steering committee. "What really makes a difference is the policy."
Durant, a member of the MWC steering committee, said that boating is acceptable anytime on the river. Swimming is now safe in only one place and only during certain seasons, because rain water flows spread the sewage into other parts of the river.
Durant said some areas are now close to fishable, but "the question is, do you want to eat the fish you catch there?" He said the MWC does not yet have the scientific capacity for the project.
"It may not be that the whole river will be cleaned up to those standards in the timeframe," he said.
Mead said the first step in achieving the goal is to "create an intense public will" to clean up the river by increasing public attention on the project. She said the MWC is 60 to 70 percent of the way to developing that public interest.
Bardot is a member of Water Watch, a student organization run each year by a representative from the Massachusetts Students Public Interest Research Group. According to Bardot, over 100 Tufts students participated in the Mystic River clean-up this year, most of them through Water Watch.
Somerville Mayor Joe Curtatone said most of the damage to the Mystic River was done decades ago, and that environmental standards are now strictly enforced along the river. He said the development of the Assembly Square area was planned with the river in mind. "We are emphasizing cleaner, smart-growth type uses of the riverfront," he said.
"The Mystic River is truly a hidden gem and a recreational asset," Curtatone said. "It doesn't get the attention it needs from the state."
Many feel the MWC's job would be easier if the Mystic River were given the same level of consideration as the Charles River. "I'm not sure the Mystic has had the [same] amount of interest as the Charles," said Kathy Baskin, the project director of the Charles River Watershed Association.
In 1995, as part of its effort to clean up the Boston Harbor, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) set a goal to make the Charles River fishable and swimmable by 2005.
A similar EPA investment does not exist for the Mystic River. The pollution of the Mystic River "could easily be corrected with the same level of investment" as the Charles River has seen, Durant said.
"The Mystic hasn't seen the same level of funding as the Charles because the Charles has some pretty impressive advocates working on its behalf," said Bill Walsh-Rogalski, a lawyer in the EPA's regional administrator's office who works on special projects.
Walsh-Rogalski said the Charles River's history as a recreational waterway and spillover benefits from the river's proximity to the Boston Harbor cleanup have made the Charles River more attractive for outside investment.
University College Community Engagement Specialist Lisa Brukilacchio said EPA involvement would bring substantial resources to the clean-up of the Mystic River. "It's that level of effort and commitment and constant vigilance that it takes to clean up one of these rivers," she said.
Brukilacchio said the Mystic River clean-up is in its early stages because of a lack of research and data. "The Charles has had research way ahead of [the Mystic River]," she said.
Walsh-Rogalski said there is a chance of future EPA involvement in the Mystic River. "We are interested in working with other urban rivers," he said. "The Agency is hoping the work will get off the ground in the next few years."
He would not comment on whether the initial EPA goal for the Charles River will be realized on schedule.
Mead was enthusiastic about the level of student participation in the Mystic River project, but she said she would like to see a greater understanding of the project across the entire school.
She recommended a trip to the watershed during freshman orientation as a way to make students more aware of the neighboring river.
Durant said the MWC has more capacity for student involvement. "We can handle more," he said. "There is plenty for Tufts students to do."
Bardot said Water Watch is "aching for members."
Brukilacchio credited Tufts involvement in the Collaborative with influencing municipality intervention in the Alewife Brook section of the watershed.
"What made the cities do something to stop the sewage were members of the Tufts faculty and students," she said.
