Current Monitoring Data to Date

Protecting Our Rivers and Streams

The quality of the water in our rivers and streams is a reflection of the health of our entire watershed ecosystem. The impact of any land use practice on the quality or quantity of water can be substantial. Clean rivers are a must for healthy, sustainable aquatic life and for pleasurable, safe recreation.

One of the primary threats to water quality in the Nashua River watershed are the pollutants that make it to streams, rivers, lakes, and ponds in stormwater runoff. Rain water and melting snow wash pollutants such as nutrients (primarily nitrogen and phosphorus), oil, grease, sediment, bacteria and heavy metals into nearby waterways. The sources of the pollutants include lawns and agricultural fields, roadways and parking lots, uncollected pet waste, and erosion from development.

The NRWA works to maintain and improve the water quality in our rivers through our Water Monitoring Program where dedicated volunteers are our eyes on the rivers and streams throughout the watershed, and help to gather water quality data, monthly from April through October. This program has been in existence for two decades, creating a historic record of the health of our local waterways that helps us to better assess current conditions. The NRWA Water Monitoring Program’s Quality Assurance Project Plan has been approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, and New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services, and ensures that the data collected is accepted for assessment reports by each of these agencies.

The legacy of aging infrastructure in urban areas is also something we work to improve. For example, NRWA works on site-specific projects including tracking sources of bacteria in the City of Fitchburg. NRWA has educated businesses about the importance of closing illicit floor drains in Lancaster, and the annual Monoosnoc Brook Clean-up in Leominster celebrated its 25th year in 2011. More on NRWA water quality projects.

For information about water quality issues, please contact Martha Morgan, NRWA Water Programs Director, at (978) 448-0299, or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

NRWA Water Monitoring Program

This year (2023) marks the 31st season that dedicated volunteers have monitored water quality and reported conditions and observations at over 30 sites throughout the Nashua River watershed. The Water Monitoring Program builds community awareness of water issues, helps identify and restore problem sites, promotes advocacy for our watershed, and increases the volume of information available on our waters. We use the monitoring results to create a River Report Card that is shared with volunteers, the public, and Massachusetts and New Hampshire state agencies each month. View historic water quality data. For more information on what we monitor, and why, see our Volunteer Water Monitoring Manual. Monitoring for the 2022 season is supported in part by grants from the Greater Lowell Community Foundation and the Fieldstone Foundation.

For a peek at what it's like to be a volunteer monitor, view videos created by Dawn McCall and Mike Labbe, NRWA Water Monitors from Shirley: Water Sampling and In the Lab.

Monitors: Please visit our Monitors Corner for more monitoring details, to read our Volunteer Manual, find kit pick-up dates, a list of sites, our monitoring schedule, data forms, and directions to the labs.

NOTE:  Not all data have been quality control checked.

For more information about our water monitoring program, or to get involved by becoming a Volunteer Water Monitor, please contact Jessica Veysey Powell, NRWA Watershed Scientist, at (978) 448-0299, or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Protecting Drinking Water

Residents in the Nashua River watershed receive their drinking water from either public municipal water systems where the water supply is derived either from reservoirs or well fields, or, from private wells, which can be either shallow (less than 100 feet) or deep bedrock wells. The underground sources of water are known as aquifers.

Our watershed is one of the fastest growing regions in both Massachusetts and New Hampshire, and with development comes pressures on water supply sources. Pollution threats to all of these drinking water sources include failed septic systems, lawn fertilizer runoff, underground storage tanks, pet and agricultural waste, and stormwater runoff from roads. Sufficient water quantity can be challenged by water withdrawals for use in industry, watering of lawns, and municipal wells. Protecting our water supply from pollution and monitoring our water quantity is critically important to ensure safe drinking water for all.

The Association uses a number of approaches to protect drinking water. One approach is to identify and conserve key land parcels that protect important drinking water sources. NRWA collaborates with federal and state agencies, regional and local land trusts, municipal boards, other environmental organizations, and landowners on projects such as our multi-year “Protecting Today’s Water for Tomorrow” project funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Southern Monadnock Plateau projects protecting priority lands through funding from the federal Forest Legacy program. The NRWA also worked with a broad partnership to protect one of the town of Pepperell’s municipal water supplies through the conservation of Pepperell Springs. More about NRWA Land Protection and Land Stewardship.

Another approach we use is to work with communities to help them craft bylaws or ordinances that will protect their water supplies. NRWA’s Smart Growth Circuit Rider works with municipal boards to develop by-laws and regulations for Phase II stormwater requirements and aquifer protection zone overlays, to protect water supplies. More about NRWA land-use planning projects.

The NRWA also offers a wide range of educational programs from a septic maintenance program for New Hampshire homeowners to a Low Impact Development workshop for professional planners. More about NRWA education programs.

Key to all of these activities is collaboration and partnership. Whether it is a large landscape, multi-year project such as “Protecting Today’s Water for Tomorrow” that involved over 50 partners, or it is working one-on-one with individuals like you, we need everyone to be involved in keeping our drinking water clean.