Featured Projects
SWI Task Force Volunteers are working with home owners along the coast line to test their wells for assessment of salt water intrusion vulnerability.
This project involved monitoring of water quality (salinity, TDS) at Center Hill Pond, which was effectively separated into two ponds after a series of winter storms, along with Black Pond, which is hydrogeologically connected to the two ponds. The variations in the data invited further research, leading directly to a state MVP grant to study the town;s vulnerability to saltwater intrusion. The initial data is was collected by internss from Plymouth's Rising Tide Charter School.
We're nearly there! A legacy element of our MVP project on saltwater intrusion, the Community Water Testing Station, will allow the public to test water from ponds and wells for indications of salinity, nitrates, and other pollutants. The person bringing the sample may be able to do the testing themselves, sor ask one of the SEMPBA-trained volunteers. Stay tuned for updates on this important service.
Hikes are developed to highlight the interaction between the topography of Plymouth's ponds and streams and Plymouth's sole-source Plymouth Carver Aquifer. Hikes are mapped and annotated showing segmentation, distance, and difficulty. Hikes will be lead by various guides. Dates for different hikes will be published on multiple websites. Maps for various hikes will be published as updates on this site.
This is a free, family-friendly event that engages the attendees in hands-on science, art and more. The festival aims to educate both Plymouth residents and visitors about the ecological, historical, and cultural significance of the annual herring migration.
A community read on climate disruption and water.
This project is devleoping predictive models of how the aquifer system and hydraulically connected surface waters (ponds, streams, wetlands) respond to future climate and development in the region. We are assessing how changes in terrestrial hydrology and water use together with the effects of sea-level rise combine to influence the future of freshwater resources and ecosystems with the Plymouth region of Massachusetts.
The Friends of Ellisville Marsh and its project partners have since 2007 been pursuing a project to restore and maintain tidal flows at the 70-acre Ellisville salt marsh to revitalize fisheries and wildlife. The project has been remarkably successful. The Friends acquired all the necessary local, state, and federal permits to maintain the salt marsh inlet on a continuing basis and periodically reopened it after major storms. A treasure trove of scientific monitoring data has been collected. A model for protecting nesting areas of threatened shorebirds created. A new species of insect discovered. A second nonprofit spun off. The project is chronicled in a book entitled, Rescuing Ellisville Marsh: the Long Fight to Restore Lost Connections (UMass Press, 2023).
Savery Pond experienced a series of harmful algal (cyanobacteria) blooms starting around 2010. The Savery Pond Conservancy (SPC) has been working since 2012 to characterize water quality, hydrologic conditions and nutrient inputs to the pond, and to identify solutions to improve pond water quality.
A Living Observatory blog highlighting observations about water issues and resources in and around Plymouth, Massachusetts.
