Ipswich Watershed Gets $1M Worth of Stormwater Retention Projects

The project is one of a series of nine low-impact development and green infrastructure installations that demonstrate techniques that promise to improve water quality and stream flow in the Ipswich River watershed.

Located in northeastern Massachusetts, the Ipswich River winds 45 miles from Burlington, Massachusetts, to Plum Island Sound in Ipswich. Its 155-square-mile watershed encompasses all or part of 21 communities.

A $1 million EPA Targeted Watershed Grant funded the demonstration projects, which have been coordinated by the EPA, the U.S. Geological Survey, the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, and local communities.

"DCR is grateful to EPA for funding these projects, which give us a chance to test out some new and perhaps better approaches to old problems," said Richard K. Sullivan Jr., commissioner of the Department of Conservation and Recreation. "We’re also grateful to our municipal partners in eight communities for helping make these projects a success."

Permeable paving at the Silver Lake parking lot (Photo courtesy Mass. DCR)

The towns of Ipswich, Wilmington, Reading, North Reading, Hamilton, Middleton, Topsfield, and the city of Peabody co-sponsored demonstration projects.

On Tuesday, state and federal officials and representatives of local communities toured four of the projects, including several at Silver Lake.

At the Silver Lake town beach parking lot, four types of permeable paving allow stormwater to filter through the pavement instead of flowing across it. Bioretention cells – planted areas that filter stormwater through soils and plantings – and two vegetated swales replace piped outfalls that previously dumped untreated stormwater into the lake.

"Residents have spoken favorably about the visual improvements to the Silver Lake parking area, and they are certainly pleased that we have practically eliminated beach closures due to bacteria, as a result of this work," said Wilmington Town Manager Michael Caira.

"EPA is proud of the results we are seeing due to the close collaboration between federal, state and local partners to find workable solutions that can be applied here in the Ipswich Watershed, and beyond to other stressed semi-urban ecosystems in New England," said Ira Leighton, acting regional administrator of EPA’s New England office.

"Common sense solutions don’t have to break the budget, and can provide us with major environmental benefits," he said.

One such solution is a green roof in Ipswich at Whipple Riverview Place, a refurbished building that provides affordable apartments for seniors. The vegetated roof absorbs and retains rainwater, reducing erosion and keeping pollutants from entering the river.

At Partridgeberry Place in Ipswich, a 20-lot subdivision is designed as a low-impact development by preserving open space, with the 20 homes clustered on 10 acres, leaving 38 acres of land undisturbed.

The development also uses narrower roads, rain gardens and designed grassy swales to reduce the area of impervious pavement and absorb more of the rainfall, filtering out pollutants and replenishing underground aquifers.

"The Ipswich River Watershed Association is excited by having local examples of cutting-edge methods for water conservation and management of polluted runoff," said Kerry Mackin, the association's executive director.

More than 330,000 people and businesses depend on the river and its aquifers for drinking water. But the Ipswich River is in trouble.

The national rivers protection organization American Rivers named the Ipswich as the third most endangered river in the country in 2003. This designation reflects the severe and chronic reductions in flow the river has experienced, particularly since the mid-1990s. During the last 10 years, long sections of the river frequently have dried up.

The Massachusetts Water Resources Commission now classifies the river basin as "highly stressed," the highest of three stress classifications related to flows.

Historically, the river has supported productive fisheries and shellfish beds. The Ipswich River estuary is part of the 17,000-acre Great Marsh ecosystem extending up the coast into New Hampshire. About 74 percent of the watershed is forest and various levels of residential land use, and about 10 percent is covered by lakes, ponds, and marshes.

Development in the watershed continues at a rapid pace, further jeopardizing the river. Since 1971, an average of 1,000 acres a year have been developed in watershed communities, altering the natural hydrologic cycle, increasing stormwater runoff and decreasing groundwater recharge.

The new low impact development and green infrastructure demonstration projects are aimed at countering these adverse impacts.

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