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Site Description:

Environment: Tidal River

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Site History:

The first known users of the Pawcatuck River were the Native American Indian tribes of Niantic, Pequot, and Narragansett, who hunted and fished throughout the extensive watershed. Although resident Indian tribes relied heavily on the natural resources of the watershed, their uses did not significantly alter the landscape characteristics of the watershed. European colonists soon exploited the protected waters of the estuary; and by 1680, shipbuilding was the most active occupation along the banks of the river, converting forest and marsh to commercial and residential uses. Shipbuilding proliferated into the 1800s when the Industrial Revolution shifted the attention of regional investors to industrial manufacturing. The river’s naturally flowing waters provided a source of power for factories, and industrial development of the watershed began.

The first mills, powered by water, ground grains for flour and meal with little harmful effect on the watershed. With the adoption of textile processing in nearby Providence, these gristmills were converted to wool and cotton processing, which produced wastewater that was discharged directly into the river. The largest textile processing factory, the White Rock Company, was founded in 1814 along the Pawcatuck River in the White Rock region of Westerly.

As textile mills flourished throughout the watershed, a series of dams were constructed along the Pawcatuck to harness waterpower for factories. With the growth of industry, river damming continued into the mid-1900s. Unfortunately, this practice ultimately led to the extinction of the Atlantic salmon population in the river by denying access to adult salmon returning upriver to spawn. As more factories appeared along the river and estuary, the growing demand for a work force drew more people into the region. As both the number of mills and people within the watershed increased, so did the extent and volume of industrial and municipal wastes discharged into the river, resulting in poor water quality. Increased pollution of the river continued into the 1950s, when the textile industry in New England abruptly collapsed and many of the region’s factories closed. Many of the abandoned factories fell to ruin, but others were converted to new industrial uses.

Improvement of water quality conditions in the river and estuary began when the textile industry collapsed, reducing the volume of wastewater entering the river, and continued with the construction of sewage treatment facilities in Westerly and Pawcatuck. However, planned control and abatement of pollutant discharges did not begin in earnest until passage of the Clean Water Act in 1972. With adoption of this act, standards for wastewater discharge from industrial and municipal plants were instituted and water quality improved.