US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) awarded $363,257.00 of funds to the City of Somerville, Massachusetts, to develop a Mystic River water quality monitoring and public education project known commonly as Environmental Monitoring for Public Access and Community Tracking or simply EMPACT.  This project was pursued, developed and completed in collaboration with Tufts University and Mystic River Watershed Association. 

As a part of project extensive water quality data was collected at five different locations at Mystic River and Alewife Brook.  Based on the collected data and weather parameters, a mathematical model was developed to predict the water quality for boating and swimming as defined by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.  All real time information was made available during late spring, summer and early fall for two consecutive years, to public by means of interactive website both in English and Spanish. 

Although the project is now concluded, the data collected during project period and extensive information on water quality is available at project website: www.mysticriveronline.org.  This website for its design and content was acknowledged by the USEPA as featured Web site on their EMPACT Web site.