♦ 
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES AND OVERVIEW 
by 
Ms. Kathy Castagna 
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 
Region I 
Boston, MA 
I would like to say "good morning" to everyone and note that EPA Region I is 
pleased to participate in today’s seminar. My name is Kathy Castagna and I work in EPA's 
Region I as a Project Monitor on the supplemental draft environmental impact statement 
on the siting of wastewater treatment facilities in Boston Harbor. I have been working on 
this project for over 2 years, and Boston Harbor/Massachusetts Bay is a topic near and 
dear to my heart. The purpose of my talk this morning is to give you a general overview 
and orientation of Massachusetts Bay from several perspectives. I will tell you about the 
geography of the Bay, some demography, history, general environmental parameters, 
pollutant loadings to the Bay, and end with my view of some of the critical issues facing 
Massachusetts Bay. 
Boston Harbor and Massachusetts Bay are located on the western edge of the 
Gulf of Maine north of Cape Cod (Figure 1). The Bay is an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean 
extending 65 miles along the coast of Massachusetts, southward from Cape Ann to the 
northern border of Cape Cod (Figure 2). The waterways of eastern Massachusetts that 
border Massachusetts Bay consist of Boston Harbor and associated rivers. 
Boston Harbor is a large, relatively shallow complex of bays and tidal estuaries 
covering 47 square miles, with 180 miles of tidal shoreline. Draining into Boston Harbor 
are the Charles River with a length of 80 miles; the Neponset River, with a length of 30 
miles; and the Mystic River with a length of 17 miles. 
Outlying regions along the coast include the rivers and tidal estuarine systems 
of the north and south coastal regions of Massachusetts Bay. The north region includes 
the Ipswich, Pines, and Saugus Rivers as well as Gloucester, Beverly and Salem Harbors. 
The south coastal region consists of the Jones, North, and South Rivers as well as Gulf, 
Cohasset and Scituate Harbors on the south shore. 
Figure 3 gives a better definition of the major rivers draining into Boston 
Harbor. The communities that border Massachusetts Bay begin with Rockport and the 
Cape Ann area and make a semicircular arch southward to Gurnet Point in Duxbury. The 
greater Boston metropolitan area borders Boston Harbor and Massachusetts Bay. Various 
portions of the areas described have been continuously occupied by European settlements 
for more than 350 years. During this time the region has been subjected to ever 
increasing amounts of municipal wastes and other abuses. 
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