Water Resources Division
New Hampshire-Vermont District
361 Commerce Way
Pembroke, NH 03275

April 18, 2001

Dear Liaison Committee Member:

I hope this letter finds you well and having a good Spring. You are invited to attend the next Liaison Committee meeting of the New England Coastal Basins (NECB) National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program Study scheduled for Wednesday, May 16, 2001. We will update you on study activities, results, and future plans. This meeting, which will begin at 9:30 am and conclude by 3:00 pm, will be held at the Westford Regency Inn, Westford Massachusetts (directions are presented below). An agenda and registration form for the meeting are enclosed.

We have published a new report titled Shallow Ground-Water Quality in the Boston, Massachusetts Metropolitan Area that describes the results of our 1999 monitoring of shallow ground waters in newly urbanized lands of the Boston area. Copies of the report (and previous NECB study reports) will be available at the Liaison meeting; if you can not attend the meeting but would like a copy of the report, please fill out the enclosed meeting registration form.

The year 2000 was our most intensive field data collection year and was the second of three active field data collection years for the study. We sampled nearly 60 domestic bedrock wells in Maine, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire, and did some specialized monitoring of two bedrock wells in coastal New Hampshire to address arsenic occurrence. We completed the second and final year of routine monitoring at our 10 fixed surface-water sites. All sites were monitored for nutrients and suspended sediments; in addition, two sites, the Aberjona and Charles Rivers, were seasonally monitored for volatile organic compounds. Our most extensive field effort last year was the urban land use gradient study that monitored 32 streams from Connecticut northward to Maine. These streams represent a gradient of urbanization from less than 1 percent urban land in the watershed to nearly 70 percent urban land. At all of the gradient study sites we monitored nutrients and pesticides, periphyton biomass and species, macroinvertebrate and fish communities, physical habitat features, and continuous stream stage. Finally, we worked with other NAWQA Program staff to conduct lake coring work at 9 lakes in the study area; 7 of these lakes were in the Boston area and 2 lakes in the While Mountains. The purpose of the coring work is to be determine long-term trends (50+ years) for trace metals, semi-volatile organics, and pesticides. Our studies and field data collection plans for 2001 are described in the enclosed table.

We hope that you remain interested in our NAWQA study, and we welcome your input on any of our activities. If you are planning to attend the meeting, please return the enclosed registration form by May 9 in the self-addressed envelope provided. If you can not attend the meeting, but would like to discuss any of the NECB study activities; or if you have any questions regarding the meeting please give me a call at 603-226-7809 or e-mail me at kwrobins@usgs.gov. We appreciate your interest in the NECB NAWQA study and look forward to seeing you next month.

Directions to the Westford Regency Inn: Traveling north on Interstate 495, take Exit 32 and turn right at the end of the exit ramp; traveling south on I-495 take Exit 32 and turn left at the end of the ramp. Proceed 1/4 mile to the first intersection and turn right on Route 110 west. The Westford Regency is 1/2 mile on your right.