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BIOLOGICAL REPORT 31 



water quality in these ponds has focused attention 

 toward protecting the quality of the surrounding 

 groundwater to prevent contamination of these 

 source ponds. 



Middleborough. A large rural town, 

 Middleborough lies partially within the Buzzards Bay 

 drainage basin. The southeast corner of the town is 

 in the Weweantic and Sippican drainage basins, 

 which empty into Buzzards Bay. A substantial 

 amount of Middleborough is preserved for water- 

 shed protection and conservation and does not pro- 

 vide significant pollutant inputs to the bay. 



Rochester. Rochester is a rural agricultural 

 community with limited highway access and subse- 

 quently little commercial or industrial development. 

 The town is drained by the Sippican River on the 

 east and the Mattapoisett River on the west. Al- 

 though there are numerous cranberry bogs in the 

 town, water quality remains high in the waters flow- 

 ing towards Buzzards Bay. A regional trash incin- 

 eration facility is located here that accepts trash from 

 many coastal communities in southeastern Massa- 

 chusetts. 



Carver. Carver is a rural community with large 

 areas of forest and about 40% of the cranberry bog 

 area within the entire bay watershed (University of 

 Massachusetts Cranberry Experiment Station, per- 

 sonal communication). Most of Carver is drained 

 by the Weweantic River basin; southeastern Carver 

 is part of the Winnetuxet River basin. To the north, 

 the Winnetuxet River basin flows to the Taunton 

 River basin, and the remainder of the town drains 

 south to Buzzards Bay. Because it receives no 

 municipal waste input, water quality is good in this 

 river, with the exception of some areas identified to 

 have pesticide residues from cranberry agriculture. 

 The Wankinco River makes up part of the Carver- 

 Plymouth boundary and maintains many impound- 

 ments as well as cranberry bogs. Except for some 

 evidence of pesticide residues, this river is consid- 

 ered relatively clean as well. 



Plymouth. This town maintains the largest land 

 area in the commonwealth, sharing with Carver and 

 Wareham the largest groundwater aquifer in Mas- 

 sachusetts. Plymouth has experienced substantial 



pressure for development of year-round and sea- 

 sonal housing. Rivers from the watershed discharge 

 primarily into Buzzards Bay, Plymouth Bay, and the 

 Cape Cod Canal; the rivers flowing into Buzzards 

 Bay have their sources in the Plymouth-Carver aqui- 

 fer. These rivers include the Weweantic River, 

 Wankinco River, Agawam River, and Red Brook, 

 with Herring River discharging into the canal. The 

 municipal sewage treatment plant for Plymouth dis- 

 charges into Plymouth Harbor and Cape Cod Bay 

 and therefore is generally not considered to influ- 

 ence Buzzards Bay. 



Acushnet. The town of Acushnet supports a 

 mixture of industry, residential development, and 

 rural area and is located on the Acushnet River 

 northeast of New Bedford. Runoff from the dairy 

 industry has been identified as the cause of periodic 

 low oxygen conditions and high coliform counts: 

 although some reaeration of river waters is provided 

 by a dam, this has no effect on the increased 

 coliform populations identified downstream. Evi- 

 dence of residual mercury inputs has been found, 

 possibly from the historic use of mercury-based 

 pesticides on nearby orchards (Terkla et al. 1 990). 

 Potential inputs from the municipal landfill to a tribu- 

 tary of the Acushnet River have been of growing 

 concern in this area. 



5.2.2. Economic Resources 

 and Water Quality 



For a coastal community, high water quality has 

 both direct and indirect economic benefits. The 

 health of valuable natural resources such as recre- 

 ational and commercial fish and shellfish species 

 depends on the environmental health of the ecosys- 

 tem as a whole. For many coastal communities, tour- 

 ism is also an important economic resource. Poor 

 water quality seriously affects the desirability of a 

 coastal area for tourism; it can also affect the value 

 of real estate, which subsequently affects the rev- 

 enue base for many of these towns. To evaluate the 

 potential long-term impacts of declines in water 

 quality on the local economy, it is important to dif- 

 ferentiate between those changes caused by natu- 

 ral processes as opposed to human activities. In 



