Boston Harbor and Massachusetts Bay
MWRA Environmental Quality Department

Massachusetts Bay Benthic Monitoring: Nearfield stations

Sea-floor, or benthic monitoring in 2008 was conducted at soft-bottom stations in the nearfield and farfield and through a video and photographic survey of rocky habitats in the vicinity of the outfall and at reference locations to the north and south.

At stations near the outfall, contaminant concentrations are typically correlated with grain size, with the muddier stations having more organic carbon and correspondingly higher concentrations of contaminants.

Locations of soft-bottom stations near the outfall