Peter Dolbec and Khoa Tran
EEOS Capstone
March 7, 2011
Progress Report Draft
For the class, EEOS Capstone (EEOS 476) which is being taught by Professor Anamarija
Frankic, students working in pairs were assigned a site within the Mystic River Watershed in
Massachusetts. Our site is called the Chelsea Creek and Mill Creek which is being owned by the
Department of Conversation and Recreation (DCR). Located in Chelsea, MA, the Chelsea Creek and Mill Creeks are off of Chelsea River which is connected to the Mystic River. We were assigned to this site to make plans and create designs to make the area into a sustainable location for the community of Chelsea and for the region of the Boston Metropolitan area. Working along with other organizations within the area, we can develop a design to make the location an asset for the people.
Chelsea Creek and Mill Creek are being constantly spoiled and ruined. Some of the damages come from constant pollution through various means including air pollution, degrading of the water from littering, storm water runoff, and others. Being located along a major route between Chelsea and Boston, there are a variety of industrial uses including storage of fuel. The salt marshes are also nearly gone, and there are unused contaminated lands, among others.
Chelsea Creek and Mill Creek are considered the second most polluted body of water in the
Commonwealth. This created a burden for the residents and the community through public health concern to animals, plants, and people, and creating harm to the environment and other various means (“Chelsea Creek Action Group”).

For the Chelsea Creek and Mill Creek, there are a variety of individuals and organizations that want to help improve the quality of Chelsea Creek and Mill Creek. Thus, we are trying to communicate and to work along with them to figure out what their plans and how to make our designs better. The Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) owned the site.
The “Mystic River Watershed Association (MyRWA)” holds meetings and continues trying to improve the whole water systems within the watershed, which included Chelsea River (where
Chelsea Creek and Mill Creek are located). The Chelsea Creek Action Group (CCAG) is organization that were formed by the Chelsea Green Space and Recreation Committee,
Neighborhood of Affordable Housing, and the residents of East Boston and Chelsea to make improve the area through various means including environmental sustainability for the location.
Chelsea Collaborative, a group of organizations that try to improve the area of Chelsea, which included the Chelsea Green Space and Recreation Committee. Other organizations that we are trying to contact including the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection
(MassDEP), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) and Urban Ecology Institute (UEI). All these organizations that were just mentioned will be beneficial for us if we are to make contact with them.
To improve the area, we are addressing some of the problems and exploring some designs to how to advance the area. Through the EPA, they have been some fines that were passed to certain companies for violating the Clean Water Act, such as fines that were imposed to the “Savannah Pointe Properties of Chelsea LLC” for their act in storm water violations
(“EPA fines Chelsea, Sheffield operations in water quality enforcement drive”). But one of the most important violations in recent history is the settlement of 4.6 million dollars from the
Exxon-Mobil after a tanker dropped 15,000 gallons of diesel fuel in Chelsea River in 2006

(“Boston Environmentalists Face Upstream Battle in Big Oil Settlement”), which the money can used to clean up the area. Along with funding from the EPA of 1.56 million dollars to reduce diesel emissions in 2010, Chelsea Creek and Mill Creek should an improvement in quality for the community (“Chelsea receives $1.56m EPA funding to reduce diesel emissions”). The question remains though, how can the community and various organizations to help Chelsea to use this money efficiently?
We have been exploring some current plans while improving existing ones and designing new ones. One of the problems that need to be address is the location of the Hess Site, located along the Chelsea Creek. The area is highly contaminated, but recently been purchased by the
“BRA,” thus various organizations are discussing what to do with the area. For this particular location, we need to find out where exactly is the site located, and discuss with various organizations to how to use the area efficiently for how to be an economic asset to the community while reducing the harm to the environment. This location is important issue to be dealt with along the Chelsea Creek and Mill Creek because the area is still containment, which in turn, creates harm to the environment.
Being located along a major route with many of industrial uses, the Chelsea Creek and
Mill Creek is prone to storm water runoff and pollution, which degraded the water quality in
Chelsea River. Through good storm water management, this would decrease in polluting the water. One of the ideas that is being discussed at the moment is “Tree Pits,” which are designs along pathways to reduce storm water runoff volume, flow rate, and temperature by absorbing water into the ground. This tree pits can be used along the route, to not only reduce storm water runoff, but also to beautified the area. Another possibility to help manage storm water is “green

roofs” which is basically developing a green area (a garden of some sort) on roofs of the buildings. The purpose of “green roofs” is to absorb some of the rainfalls which will decrease the amount of rain hitting the ground, thus, deducing the amount of storm water runoff. Also, we are currently looking to improve the salt marshes area located along the creeks, including where to situate them for them to be used efficiently. We also discussing about the possibility of adding salt marshes to the area, and if salt marshes would be beneficial to the creeks, we would like to know why some officials haven’t put them there yet.
Another problem located at the Chelsea Creek and Mill Creek is that there are little accesses for the public. This, in turn, has possible solutions for this problem. First, various organizations and individuals (including us), need to educate the public why Chelsea Creek and
Mill Creek are important, and how the area can be an environmental, recreation, and economic asset to the community and region. Get the public involvement more through possible volunteering and opinions and how to improve the area. One of the problems at Chelsea Creek and Mill Creek is the pollution through littering (as this one of the important issues to tackle), thus, getting possible help from the community to clean up and maintain the area to be a good environmental location with good water quality. Apparently, there is a shopping plaza (or one being developed) behind Mill Creek (unfortunately, we haven’t seen the area yet). If the area is currently being developed (or if there is a plaza at the location right now), we can visit the site and see how to make the area useful to community and have possible public access to the creeks.
Also, there is an unused rail road along the Chelsea Creek. We are currently thinking about possible ways to make this railroad track useful for community, such as developing shops, bike path, green pathway, which would results in becoming a multi-use, recreational pathway.

Public accesses don’t necessary mean having to swim in the water. Instead, public access to the creeks can also mean to develop areas such as playground, and to enjoy the beauty of the cheeks. However, that is one of main problems that we want to diagnose and try to find a solution, the water quality of the Chelsea Creek and Mill Creek. As part of the Chelsea River, which is, part of the Mystic River Watershed, the area is one of the most polluted bodies of water in the Commonwealth. The question lies in, can the water quality be clean enough to be swim in and can the water quality maintain their cleanness? One of the sides of the Creeks lies residential areas, but on the other side, lies a major route with industrial uses, thus, even decreasing storm water runoff, this area is still prone to being pollute. Thus, we need to figure out the current water quality, and how, if possible, to maintain the good standards of the water quality. If the water quality can get and maintain clean, we use a program similar to the one of the “Back to the
Beaches” program that were used throughout different beaches in the Boston area, which essentially check the quality to see if the water is swimmable, working to prevent pollution, create parks and other buildings. Even if the area is not recommended to be used for swimming, we can still use some of the “Back to the Beaches” program to enhance the quality of the area to give some good experiences for the people.
Conclusion, we are trying to improve the Chelsea Creek and Mill Creek to a beneficial location for the community and region. We need to communicate various organizations if they have access to the funding to help improve the area and what they are planning to do with the money. Through that, we can work along with them to diagnose the problems and create designs to make the area see a better quality. Our main priority is to deal with the incoming pollutions and to get rid of the current pollutions. From there, we can discuss with certain officials and individuals how to make the area to be an asset to the community.

References and work cited
Back to the Beaches. The Boston Harbor Association. 04 March 2011
<http://www.tbha.org/programs_beaches.htm>.
Boston Environmentalists Face Upstream Battle in Big Oil Settlement. Chris Burrell. 22
Feburary 2010. WBUR.ORG. 01 March 2011
<http://www.wbur.org/2010/02/22/pollution-settlement>.
Chelsea Creek Action Group. Kim Foltz. Neighborhood of Affordable Housing. 01 March 2011
<http://www.noahcdc.org/cbe/ccrp.html>.
Chelsea Creek Restoration Partnership (CCRP). UEI. 01 March 2011
<http://urbaneco.org/dev/Chelsea_partnership.asp >.
Chelsea receives $1.56m EPA funding to reduce diesel emissions. CTBR Staff Writer. 02
September 2010. CTBR. 1 March 2011
<http://airandenvironmentmanagement.cleantechnology-businessreview.com/news/chelsea_receives_156m_epa_funding_to_reduce_diesel_emissions_10
0902>.
EEOS 476. Anamarija Frankic. 2011. University of Massachusetts Boston. 05 March 2011
<http://faculty.umb.edu/anamarija.frankic/eeos476/eeos476home.html>.

EPA fines Chelsea, Sheffield operations in water quality enforcement drive. Thomas Spencer. 21
October 2009. The Birmingham News. 01 March 2011
<http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/statebriefs.ssf?/base/news/12561129114630.
xml&coll=2>.
Mystic River Watershed Association. 2011. MyRWA 05 March 2011 <http://mysticriver.org/>.
Restoration Methods. Restoration Coastal Habitats for Rhode Island's Future. 04 March 2011
<http://www.edc.uri.edu/restoration/html/tech_sci/restsalt.htm>.