In-compassing the towns of Harwinton, Burlington, Plymouth, Bristol, Plainville and Farmington, the Pequabuck River Watershed has been important to the area since colonial times. Sawmills and gristmills were so numerous by 1750 that it was being referred to as the Mill River. By 1820 an industrial sector that relied on waterpower from area streams and rivers was emerging. Clock makers, foundries and spring makers were the forerunners of the heavy industry that was to sustain the area throughout the 19th and most of the 20th centuries. Unfortunately most of these industries were located near or on the Pequabuck River and it's tributaries and the river became what most people thought as hopelessly polluted.

However, in the past twenty years the Pequabuck River has been making a remarkable comeback. The Clean Water Act of 1972 and two advanced sewage treatment plants, which have been put online in Plymouth and Bristol, have made a significant improvement on the water quality of the watershed. Factories are now required to clean their discharges and in many cases are not allowed to discharge into the river at all. In the spring of 1994 the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) stocked the river with Brown trout for the first time to the delight of area anglers. The watershed became part of the Federal Atlantic Salmon Restoration program with the stocking of salmon parr in the spring of 1995. There is work being done right now to make the watershed a community wide resource .