The Boston Harbor Project, and large decreases in loadings of eutrophication-related materials to Boston Harbor
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Updated: Jun 14, 2026

Visualization of Productivity Zones Based on Nitrogen Mass Balance Model in Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island
Published on: July 14, 2023
1Environmental Quality Department, Massachusetts Water Resources Authority, 100 First Avenue, Charlestown Navy Yard, Boston, MA 02129, USA. dtaylor@mwra.state.ma.us
Abstract:
Boston Harbor, a bay-estuary in the north-east USA, has recently been the site of one of the largest wastewater infrastructure projects conducted in the USA, the Boston Harbor Project (BHP). The BHP, which was conducted from 1991 to 2000, ended over a century of direct wastewater treatment facility discharges to the harbor. The BHP caused the loadings of total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), total suspended solids (TSS) and particulate organic carbon (POC) to the harbor, to decrease by between 80% and 90%. Approximately one-third of the decreases in TSS and POC loadings occurred between 1991 and 1992; the remaining two-thirds, between 1995 and 2000. For TN and TP, the bulk of the decreases occurred between 1997 or 1998, and 2000.
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