Community Support for Water Resources

Athol, Massachusetts has a rich set of water resources. Due to several recent community initiatives that have focused on conservation in our region and activity by the Army Corps of Engineers there are a large amount of land reserved as water shed and as protected lake and river habitats within the town limits.

The predominant water resource in our area is the Miller's River which travels seven miles through Athol from New Hampshire to the Connecticut river.

The community exists largely because of it's access to this swift flowing river which, once dammed several times has provided industry in the area the hydro-mechanical power it required to grow as a milling and textile leader in early New England history.

In the 30's and 40's the Miller's river had become so polluted that it would not support fish populations but the residents of Athol started to manage this abuse of the system and have turned it around significantly.

There are, however, 3 major polluters in Athol who continue to cause problems. It is worth noting that all three have put measures in place that should help reduce their impact on the river. The community must be vigilant, however, the industries in this economically depressed region are in a strong negotiating position as the residents object to their use of the river, the community also desperately needs their jobs and local spending to survive.

Whose Responsibility is our world anyway?

When considering the issues involved in the current environmental controversy the economic issues stand out as the low hanging fruit. The first time I because fully aware of the conflict between the environment and the economy was 30 years ago when the company I worked for, a computer manufacturer was accused of dumping large quantities of ferric chloride into a local river. Ferric Chloride is a by product of the circuit-board manufacturing process and is produced as copper is etched off of the boards put inside computers.
The economic benefit of not having to deal with this by-product allowed the growth of the computer industry. After being forced to deal with it, it was discovered that by reclaiming the base chemicals in the waste, much of the toxic by-products could be turned into a secondary revenue stream.

The ethical implications of knowing one is causing harm to others, even if those others are not human is clearly an ethical issue for all but the hardest of hearts. In the Boston area, the Alewife, an indigenous fish has come back from the brink of extinction by the proactive conservation efforts of many groups in the Boston area including the Army Corps of Engineers whom I worked with on the Gridley locks in Boston Harbor which included a stepped system to allow these fish into the Charles River to spawn.

Socially the topic of conservation is considered politically correct. We all pay lip service to our concern. when push comes to shove, however, the question inevitably arises; "whose responsibility is this anyway?" What is really being asked is who will pay for it? This is generally determined by who governs the domain in which a specific issue arises. Certainly the plight of the African Elephant is not mine, I live in the north east of the United States and the only African Elephants in my area are in zoos. On the other hand, the plight of the Alewife, mentioned earlier, is not the concern of the Egyptians, most of whom have never heard of this species of fish.

In consideration of aesthetics, this is the hardest issue to speak to. Perhaps here is where I confess to having a pessimistic view of mankind's willingness to "step up" to the challenges of conservation. Even as the Whale, the Butterfly, species of beautiful flower and the Florida wetlands are all in danger of long term damage, we worry more about the cast of Jersey Shore instead of the Mississippi delta.