In Case You Missed It: Central MA’s Most Polluted Ponds + Lakes

Email to a friend Permalink

Saturday, June 15, 2013

GoLocalWorcester News Team

In Case You Missed It," GoLocal's Saturday feature, puts the week's top stories in one easy place for you to review and read. Check out what dominated the news cycle this week in Central Massachusetts and get all the details with these easy links.

(Don't) Love that Dirty Water

It may be a great song to wrap up a Red Sox game, but there's not a whole lot to love about Category 5 "dirty" waters in Central Massachuestsetts.

A report released by the state this past March shows that of the more than 3,000 lakes and ponds in the Commonwealth, nearly 40 in central Massachusetts are Category 5, or "impaired or threatened for one or more uses and require a TMDL (total maximum daily load)" to allocate for an acceptable pollutant level.

See Slideshow of Category 5 Waters

Read what the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection -- as well as Mass Audubon -- had to say about the condition of these waters, and more importanly, what needs to be done.

Science and Tech Jobs -- Worcester Metro Area 3rd in New England

If environmental remediation is needed to correct the area's polluted ponds, that position would probably fall under the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) jurisdiction.

Worcester ranked 3rd in the region in STEM jobs in a recent report by the Brookings Institute -- which noted in its report that half of all STEM jobs are available to workers without a four year degree.

"Our role in k-12 education is to engage students early, show them relevence of the subject matter and teach them to problem solve and think," said Michael Barney with the Massachusetts Academy for Math and Science at WPI, pursuant to the article.

"A strong foundation, inquiry based teaching and learning strategies and strong community partnerships are all great pathways to success. I also know that the community college system in Massachusetts is very active in workforce development, certificate programs and two plus two programs with baccalaureate programs."