On Friday August 9, the third day of the Merrimack River Valley Voyagers adventure kayaking the 117-miles of the Merrimack River from Franklin, NH to Plum Island, Ma they landed in the great city of Lowell.
Sen. Kennedy kayaked in along with some of his colleagues from Beacon Hill, including Sen. Diana Dizoglio, Rep. Jim Kelcourse and Rep. Christina Minicucci, as well as Northern Essex Community College President Lane Glenn, Lawrence Partnership Executive Director Derek Mitchell, president of the Merrimack River Watershed Council Board of Directors Dan Graovac, and others. The objective of the trip was to bring attention to the importance of the Merrimack River as well as to the issues facing it. Special thanks to UMass Lowell for hosting the Lowell public event at the UML Bellegarde Boathouse and for providing a great lunch for the kayakers.
Speakers at the event included myself, Middlesex Community College President Dr. James Mabry, Lowell Regional Wastewater Executive Director Mark Young, and Community Outreach Director from Congresswoman Lori Trahan’s Office Joe Thibodeau.
Sen. Kennedy’s remarks were as follows:
The Merrimack River brought life to this area, first for as a source of water and fish for members of the Pennacook Tribe, then as a place for the early settlers of Chelmsford to farm and later as the power source for the American Industrial Revolution that made Lowell the economic driver for the region. Today the river continues to be our most important natural resource, providing drinking water for more than 600,000 valley residents, being used to create hydropower, providing the only river swimming east of Worcester in the Commonwealth at Lowell’s Rynne Beach, and providing recreational opportunities for thousands including boating at the Lowell Motor Boat Club, kayaking, canoeing and stand-up paddle boarding at the UMass Lowell Bellegarde Boathouse, as well as a scenic place for others to walk, practice yoga or meditate.
However, despite all of its attributes and its importance to the region, the Merrimack River faces numerous continuing issues including significant contamination from trash, storm water runoff that contains oils, fertilizers and other chemicals, as well as Combined Sewer Overflows. The Senate recently passed a bill filed by Senator Dizoglio, which I co-sponsored, to create a Merrimack River District Commission tasked with addressing issues related to contamination and pollution of the river. It is an important step that will ensure we keep these issues at the forefront and work toward policy solutions. It is also important that we engage officials in New Hampshire because what we do downriver does not matter if pollutants are traveling south from upstream. I am confident that local leadership up and down the river, working with Congresswoman Trahan at the federal level, can increase stewardship of the river, keeping it an important resource for many generations to come. Mark Young, the Executive Director of Lowell’s Wastewater Treatment Plant, noted that the city of Lowell has already spent $125 million in federal funding toward fixing the CSO issue, but more federal funds are needed to completely fix the problem.