Making a splash in New England water management: CLF works to shift the traditional water paradigm.

• Author: Stein, Melanie
• Position: Conservation Law Foundation

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OVER 1.5 MILLION VISITORS TRACE OUR NATION'S HISTORY along the Freedom Trail each year. Nearly 3 million fans will pile into Fenway Park this year to watch the storied Red Sox. Both are Boston trademarks that attract visitors from across the world.

The Charles River, with miles of parks, bike paths and boat houses, draws equal or greater numbers. Boston's 4th of July Celebration along the Charles River Esplanade, the international Head of the Charles Regatta each fall, and the 32 daily Duck Tours that showcase Boston for nine months per year make the river Boston's most significant tourist attraction. Thousands of local boaters, joggers and strollers also enjoy the river and its adjacent parks every day.

The Charles River is a critical artery for eastern Massachusetts that provides tourism revenue, recreation and beauty. Its 80-mile route from Hopkinton to Boston Harbor winds through 23 communities, leaving an indelible mark on the economic and ecological prosperity of Massachusetts.

Adequately protected, water resources like the Charles are invaluable community amenities, providing recreational opportunities, habitat for fish and wildlife, protection from floods, and drinking water. Abused, these values are lost, and our waters can become a threat to our health and welfare.

UNCONTROLLED DEVELOPMENT IN eastern Massachusetts has left the Charles River and its tributaries polluted and plagued by water shortages.

There are 10,000 acres of parking lots in the lower Charles River basin alone. These parking lots, along with multi-lane roadways and sprawling commercial buildings, are signs of the land-intensive growth that dominates much of New England. Together they are poisoning the river and its aquatic life.

"In New England, we are paving the landscape at an alarming rate," Christopher Kilian, director of CLF's Clean Water/ Healthy Forests program, explains. "We are preventing water from soaking back into the ground naturally because we have paved over wetlands, marshes and other vegetation."

Under natural circumstances, precipitation should recharge groundwater and sustain the watershed ecosystem. But when development interrupts this natural cycle, the effects are dramatic and devastating.

Instead of seeping back into the ground to replenish aquifers and stabilize drinking water supplies, rain and snowmelt flow from paved surfaces tainted with oil, sediment and toxins into nearby water bodies. This dirty water, known as...