WORCESTER, Mass. - Partners across the Worcester area are coming together to address the needs of the Blackstone River.

On Tuesday, the groups reviewed the Blackstone River Watershed needs assessment report. The report focuses on what actions can be taken to improve the water quality, native habitat, and watershed resilience of the Blackstone River area.

Newly hired Blackstone River Collaborative Coordinator, Stefanie Covino, presented the report and says they are working to improve not only the Blackstone area, but all of southern New England.  

“And then get all of these different groups together to meet once a month, talk about which projects are priority and what we can do to work together moving forward and we came up with this really amazing needs assessment report,” Covino said. “So at the end, there are 20 different priority actions and those are the ones I'll be focusing on in the next five years."

Covino says some of these actions include a new green jobs program focusing on green infrastructure maintenance and funding the Blackstone River Coalition water quality monitoring program.