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Massachusetts · Central Massachusetts

Blackstone River
water quality.

Explore the Blackstone River and learn how water-quality measurements reflect a changing industrial watershed.

RouteWorcester → BlackstonePublic sourceBlackstone River Coalition

What you can explore

Open the interactive Rivistry dashboard to view available measurements, station context, historical charts, reference lines, and recent weekly highlights for Blackstone River.

Open Blackstone River dashboard

Read the context

River measurements can vary with season, rainfall, temperature, flow, sampling location, and method. Rivistry presents them as evidence to understand and investigate—not as a standalone safety determination.

For the original monitoring information, visit Blackstone River Coalition.

River-specific context

Legacy industrial chemicals

The Blackstone's industrial history makes metals and PCBs important historical context, especially in sediment and fish-tissue discussions.

Documented contaminants

Historical assessments identified metals including lead, nickel, copper, cadmium, and chromium, as well as PCBs, in parts of the Blackstone system.

Interpretation

These legacy contaminants should not be inferred from a basic conductivity, phosphorus, or dissolved-oxygen reading; they require targeted sediment or tissue sampling.

Research source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Keep following changes

Weekly River Updates compare new observations with previous readings, recent baselines, trends, and applicable reference values.

See Weekly River Updates →