Water Quality Concerns
The Charles and Mystic Rivers are celebrated for how clean they are and we are pleased to report that most of the time the rivers are clean enough for swimming and fishing! We are also greatful for all the work done by the Charles River Watershed Association and the Mystic River Watershed Association for both protecting our waterways and providing strong educational and reporting tools.
Charles River Flagging
This affects our Boston and Cambridge Locations on the Charles River.
The Flagging Program provides live water quality alerts through a system of color-coded flags to indicate whether or not the Charles River is safe for recreation at thirteen locations from Watertown to Boston.
Blue Flags mean the river is safe for recreation. Red flags indicate bacterial contamination levels are likely high, and some may decide to skip boating on the river. If you do go out, take precautions to stay safe:
- Avoid all contact with the water.
- Wash or shower with clean water as soon as possible after boating.
- Avoid eating and drinking on the water.
If there is a red flag, we will stay open and continue to provide boat and board rentals, along with hand washing stations onsite for after your paddle.
Learn more and see the current water quality on the Charles River.
Mystic River Boating Advisories
This affects our Somerville and Medford Locations on the Mystic River. Estimates of water quality conditions are generated by an automated bacteria prediction model and by additional cyanobacteria testing during the boating season. What we know from past experience is that the conditions in the Mystic and Malden are most likely to be Advisory in the 1-2 days after a heavy rain storm.
What the cagories mean:
- Good: Boating is probably safe! The chances that E. coli bacteria levels exceed state recreational standards are low, and there is no evidence of a cyanobacteria bloom.
- Advisory: The chances that E. coli bacteria levels exceed state recreational standards are high, or there is evidence of a cyanobacteria bloom with concentrations exceeding state safety guidelines.
- Uncertain: There is no evidence of elevated bacteria levels, but screening values indicate a possible cyanobacteria bloom.
- Not Available: Current predictions are not currently available due to missing data or other system error.
If there is a Boating Advisory, we will stay open and continue to provide boat and board rentals, along with hand washing stations onsite for after your paddle.
Learn more and see the current water quality on the Mystic River.
To find out if Shannon Beach (or any waterbody in MA) is safe to swim, check the DCR Advisory Dashboard.
Everywhere else?
Spot Pond is a backup reservoir and the DCR and MWRA enforce strict rules to protec tthe water quality here. We support their work by prohibiting swimming and people from launching their own boats here.
Newton and Waltham are outside of the computer modeling program and we therefore have less information here. However, we do know that there are no sewer discharges here, and there is significantly less rainwater runoff outside of the city which affects the water quality. Rarely there are observed quality concerns here and we will communicate this through each location’s status bar on the website and notifying current reservations.