• Upstream Border: Fort Pond Brook @ Arlington Street, near Houghton Lane
• Downstream Border: Arlington Street, near Agawam Road

Team: Bob Guba, Jim Demming

Sheens on the water, from runoff?: FPGR1. Whatever the rain washes from our roads, yards, and driveways eventually ends up in a stream.

Segment 1 extends from the Grassy Pond confluence with Fort Pond Brook to where it flows under Arlington Street near Agawam Road. There is very little development near it. Near Fort Pond Brook the stream is shaded by willow on the west bank and maple trees on the east bank. Shortly upstream there is an old ford of granite blocks on the stream bed. Spanning the brook are two railroad ties. Two others have collapsed into the stream. Beyond the ford the brook now flows through a large open

Buffer/Yard Waste/Runoff concerns: Road sand in brook, sand from Hayward Road culvert area, FPGR1

swamp where the brook divides into at least three channels. On the west edge of the swamp are large boulders, (across from Elm Street), dumped here in the late '50's before Acton enacted flood plain zoning. There is a small pond at the end of the swamp with a residence close by (corner of Arlington Street and Hayward Road). There are two storm drain pipes from catch basins on Hayward Road emptying into the brook.

Sheens on the water: Sheen from 12” corrugated pipe at intersection of Hayward Road and Arlington Street, FPGR1; Petroleum products are washed from roadways into storm drains, which lead to culverts, and then streams.

There is evidence of road sand and oil sheen. There is a small pond between Hayward Road and the Arlington Street culvert. The brook now flows through a heavily vegetated wetland. There are lots of willow and alder with downed trees clogging the stream. There is another pond area where the brook flows under Arlington Street at culvert #3, the end of segment #1.

Pipes and culverts needing followup: 12” corrugated steel pipe leading from catch basin on Hayward Road into Grassy Brook, end of pipe plugged with sand, FPGR1