What is the Charles River worth? Ask the family who spends a Saturday afternoon along its banks in Cambridge. Ask the thousands of people who use its paths to exercise, gather, commute or simply spend time outside. Ask the runner who clears her head along the Esplanade after a stressful day. Ask the rower who trains on its waters in Watertown at sunrise. Ask the businesses, universities, neighborhoods and developers that benefit from having one of the region’s most beautiful public spaces at their doorstep. It is difficult to put a price tag on those experiences.

While there is a lot of attention right now on what it will cost to clean up the Charles River, there should be just as much attention on what the river is worth.

As the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA) considers the river’s future, the question is not simply what it will cost to protect the Charles, but what we stand to gain by investing in an asset that contributes to the health and vitality of the entire region.

The MWRA is in the midst of an important public process (within protracted legal negotiations) to determine how Greater Boston will address combined sewer overflows, or CSOs, that can send a mixture of stormwater and wastewater into the Charles and other urban waterways during heavy storms. The current draft plan includes significant investments to reduce those discharges, but would allow some overflows to continue.

That has prompted the Boston City Council to adopt a resolution opposing the current draft plan and call for stronger infrastructure, and the Cambridge City Council to issue a policy order for the city to advocate for a stronger level of CSO control and virtual CSO elimination by 2050.

Now, with public hearings underway and the public comment period open through Friday, Oct. 30, the region has an opportunity to weigh in on what comes next. The conversation will has been focused on engineering, affordability, and ratepayer impacts. But noticeably absent has been  another critical economic question: What is the return on investing in a clean, healthy Charles River?

We already know the answer is more than cleaner water.

Read full article online.

Hundreds of people decked out in swimsuits, caps, and goggles lined up at the Fiedler Dock along the Esplanade on Saturday before cannonballing into the Charles River for a rare sanctioned swim.

Some splashed about before climbing out, while others lingered a bit longer, taking in the stunning vantage point of the city. Everyone seemed to love their time in that much-less-dirty-than-before water.

After a two-year hiatus, the Charles River Conservancy’s City Splash attracted hundreds of bathers, from first-timers to veteran swimmers who eagerly wait for a chance to swim in the river.

“I’ve been living in Boston for about 20 years, and I’ve never been in the water in the Charles. It’s my big first time,” said Carlos Villamil, 50, who was taking a rest on the dock after launching into the water at noon with the first group.

Last year, organizers canceled the event due to elevated bacteria levels in the water, which can happen when the city’s antiquated sewage system overflows after heavy rainfall. Though the river used to be a popular swimming destination, swimming was prohibited in the 1950s following centuries of pollution.

City Splash is a way to bring awareness to river cleanup efforts and remind the public that swimming in the city could become a regular activity, said Laura Jasinski, executive director of the Charles River Conservancy, which hosts the event in partnership with the state Department of Conservation and and Recreation as well as other organizations.

“It’s such a fun, joyful way to understand that we should be able to do this all the time,” Jasinski said.

Read full article online.

Although regular swimming in the Charles River largely remains a fond memory from the early 20th century, there is hope.

After decades of unregulated industrialization through the 1970s, the Charles was often too polluted for boating, let alone swimming. But then in 1996, Gov. Bill Weld did something quite eye-popping.

Thirty years ago, he dove, fully clothed, into what was then a very dirty Charles River. Fast forward to today and — due in part to his dive heard round the state moments after signing the Rivers Protection Bill—the river’s health, as measured through the EPA’s “report cards “ has improved from a D in 1995 to the A/B range today.

Through regional collaboration, environmental enforcement, and sustained investment, the Charles has become one of the cleanest urban rivers in the country. But can we keep it that way? Even better, why not set our ambitions high for a river that’s fully swimmable.

Water quality data show the Charles River meets public health standards for swimming on most summer days. And there is real demand to do so.

This Saturday is City Splash, a signature annual public swim and park celebration that provides the public the rare opportunity to swim in the Charles. The event hits swimmer capacity within hours of going live for registration.

The question isn’t whether Charles could support safe swimming. It’s whether we’re willing to make it happen. 

Read full article online.

Since the 1980s, Save the Harbor, a nonprofit dedicated to restoring and protecting the Boston Harbor, has pushed for a cleaner waterway for Bostonians to enjoy. Now that the harbor is clean, Emilly Schutt, a staff scientist with Save the Harbor, sees the new wetland, along with outdoor seating and communal space, as another way to attract locals back to the channel.

“It’s going to draw people here so people are aware of the resources that are available to them,” Schutt said.

The benefits of the waterway aren’t just hopeful projections — a successful pilot project for another wetland can be observed on the Charles River.

About the size of a standard apartment, what floats in the Charles River is Biomatrix’s first wetland raft in the Boston area. With support from the Charles River Conservancy, the nearly $40,000 structure, paid for by sponsors, was built in 2020 and has flourished ever since.

“We’re really excited to see another wetland in Boston, and kind of grow this practice overall,” conservancy executive director Laura Jasinski said.

Read full article online.

The Fort Point floating wetland is one of more than 200 projects Biomatrix has installed in over 20 countries. But this one is unusual because it’s in salt water — a much harsher environment than the company’s other freshwater projects.

A similar floating wetland has been a seasonal feature in the Charles River since 2020. Each year, after the winter river ice melts, members of the nonprofit Charles River Conservancy use a tugboat to shepherd the island from its hibernation spot at the MIT sailing pavilion back to its post near the Longfellow Bridge.

Every summer for the past decade, toxic algae has bloomed in the river, driven in part by warmer weather and heavy rain. The artificial wetland is Charles River Conservancy’s executive director Laura Jasinski’s attempt to combat the perennial problem.

She partnered with Max Rome, then a Ph.D student at Northeastern University studying urban water quality, to set the Charles River island afloat.

Read full article online.

The Lynch Family Skatepark in East Cambridge is both a skating destination and a rare public canvas, where graffiti and mural work are encouraged as part of the park’s identity. The exhibition “Free to Be: Skate, Paint, Imaginate,” on view at the Multicultural Arts Center through March 6, brings that creative energy indoors, featuring murals, photographs, and visual art shaped by the park’s community. Photographer and curator Matt Ringler and Charles River Conservancy program manager Taylor Leonard join The Culture Show to discuss how skating, street art, and public space come together in this evolving cultural landmark. To learn more about the exhibition go here.

Watch podcast segment on YouTube (timestamp: 3:25:22).

Listen to podcast episode (February 19, 2026).

A fixture in the Charles River is going into hibernation for the winter.

On Tuesday, the floating wetland downriver of the Longfellow Bridge in Cambridge, Massachusetts, was towed to the MIT Sailing Pavilion, where it will live until mid-March to protect its roots from freezing.

The Charles River Conservancy installed the 730-square-foot floating wetland in 2020 following years of research and development. Thus far, it has proven effective in improving water quality and restoring biodiversity.

“What the island is, is effectively a hydroponic growing mat or dock. It floats, and we’ve planted it with over 3,000 native wetland species,” said Laura Jasinski, executive director of the Charles River Conservancy. “It really is a viable tool for helping to make our river healthier.”

Under the surface, the floating wetland serves as a feeding ground for zooplankton, which help keep toxic algae blooms under control. Over the summer, the Charles River experienced one of the longest cyanobacteria blooms it’s had in years.

Watch video on YouTube.

Read full article online.

At first glance it looks like a small island, but this patch of green is actually a science experiment with big ambitions. WBZ-TV’s Jacob Wycoff reports.

Watch video on YouTube.

Read full article online.

Daniel Langenthal was looking forward to participating in City Splash on July 12, the event that marks the one day each year when members of the public are invited to swim in the Charles River alongthe Esplanade in downtown Boston.

“There’s nothing like swimming in the river where you can see the Esplanade and MIT right in front of you,” Langenthal said.

But Langenthal and hundreds of others were soon disappointed. Organizers had to cancel the event after the city deemed the river unsafe due to high bacteria levels caused by heavy rains. The rain also led to the closure of some Greater Boston-area beaches.

It was the latest reminder that, each summer, dozens of beaches in Massachusetts close because of pollution from downpours that wash stormwater and sewage into swimming areas. This year, several new initiatives by advocacy groups and legislators are aiming to make the state’s water bodies more swimmable.

Read full article online.

CAMBRIDGE — There’s no putting the paint back in the can.

The Lynch Family Skatepark has been a graffiti destination for years. Bubble-lettered tags coat its jumps and staircases, and have turned the walls of its skateable concrete bowls into an ever-changing street art collage.

In most other public parks, graffiti artists are chased away, and their work covered up as fast as park staff can manage it. Here, in the sprawling park along the Charles River, there has been an informal policy to look the other way.

Now, say the skatepark’s overseers, it’s time to make it official.

This summer, they hope to designate it a “free wall” space, where graffiti is encouraged — and hire its first-ever graffiti artist-in-residence to promote and teach the art form they feel is too often misunderstood.

Watch video on YouTube.

Read full article online (May 13, 2025).