The Nashua River was heavily used for industry during the colonial period and the early United States. During the late 18th century and early 19th century, the heavy concentration of paper mills and the use of dyes near Fitchburg resulted in pollution that notoriously turned the river various colors downstream from the factories. In the mid-1960s, Marion Stoddart started a campaign to restore the Nashua River and its tributaries. She built coalitions with labor leaders and business leaders, in particular the paper companies who were the worst polluters of the river. With federal help, eight treatment plants were built or upgraded along the river. A broad conservation buffer was created along about half the river and its two main tributaries. By the early-1990s, most of the industry was still located along the river, but many parts of the river were once again safe for swimming. Her work is the subject of a 30-minute documentary movie titled Marion Stoddart: Work of 1000. Recovery has sparked recreational use of the river at places like Mine Falls Park in Nashua. The largely volunteer Nashua River Watershed Association, based in Groton, Massachusetts, oversees the condition of the river. On January 23, 2013, Rep. Niki Tsongas introduced the Nashua River Wild and Scenic River Study Act, a bill that would amend the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act to designate certain segments concerning the Nashua River for study for potential addition to the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System.
Watershed
From its impoundment at the Wachusett Reservoir in Clinton, Massachusetts, the South Branch of the Nashua River flows north and joins the North Branch of the Nashua River in Lancaster, Massachusetts. The North Branch of the Nashua River flows southeast from Fitchburg and Leominster, Massachusetts, to Lancaster. The Nashua River flows northward from Lancaster, meandering its way through the north-central Massachusetts towns of Harvard, Groton, Dunstable, and Pepperell, before eventually emptying into the Merrimack River at Nashua, New Hampshire. The Nashua River Watershed has a total drainage area of approximately, with of the watershed occurring in Massachusetts and in New Hampshire. The Nashua River flows for approximately, with approximately 46 of those miles flowing through Massachusetts. The Squannacook, Nissitissit, Stillwater, Quinapoxet, North Nashua, and South Nashua rivers feed it. The watershed encompasses all or part of 31 communities, 7 in southern New Hampshire and 24 in central Massachusetts. The watershed’s largest water body is the Wachusett Reservoir, which provides drinking water to two-thirds of the Commonwealth's population.
Major watershed components
Wachusett Reservoir is the largest water body.
*The Stillwater River feeds Wachusett Reservoir from the northwest.
