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MEDFORD, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) — How clean is the water in the Mystic River?
That's what was learned this week when the EPA issued its annual water quality report card for the Mystic River watershed.
EPA Acting Regional Administrator Deb Szaro said that the main body of the Mystic River, as well as the upper and lower Mystic Lakes, all got either an A or A-, indicating the water is in very good condition.
There is still work to be done in some of the smaller tributaries, but Szaro said when you compare the Mystic of today to what it used to be, there's a huge difference—it is much cleaner.
"You go back decades, and you could not go into the water at all, right?" Szaro said. "It smelled, it was filthy, you'd get sick even going near it."
Fred Laskey, MWRA Executive Director, said the Mystic is now a great place, and he and the MWRA take great pride in the cleanup of the river.
"People want to live near the water, they want to live near the ocean, and now, it's a nice place to live, work, and play," he said.
Szaro said the progress means a lot to those who live nearby.
"To have water bodies that are open to them, that are clean, where they can boat, they can swim, they can recreate, fish—I mean, there's nothing better than that," she said. "Isn't that why we do what we do?"
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WBZ NewsRadio's Carl Stevens (@carlwbz) reports