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Massachusetts Nashua River Watershed
The Nashua River Watershed is a major Massachusetts watershed.
From its impoundment at the Wachusett Reservoir, the Nashua River flows northward, meandering its way through the north-central Massachusetts towns of Clinton, Leominster, Fitchburg, Groton, Dunstable, and Pepperell, Massachusetts, before eventually emptying into the Merrimack River at Nashua, New Hampshire. The Nashua River Watershed has a total drainage area of approximately 538 square miles (1393 km²), with 454 square miles (1176 km²) of the watershed occurring in Massachusetts and 74 square miles (192 km²) in New Hampshire. The Nashua River flows for approximately 56 miles (90 km), with approximately 46 of those miles (74 km) flowing through Massachusetts. The Squannacook, Nissitissit, Stillwater, Quinapoxet, North Nashua, and South Nashua Rivers feed it. The watershed encompasses all or part of thirty-one communities, seven in southern New Hampshire and twenty-four in central Massachusetts. The watershed’s largest water body is the Wachusett Reservoir, which provides drinking water to two-thirds of the Commonwealth's population[1].
Because the Nashua River Watershed comprises so many elements, some criteria was necessary for selecting its major components. Certainly, there should not be an encyclopedia entry for every book and stream. The criterion used was visibility, i.e., if an item is missing, its effect upon other items should be minimal.
Nashua River Basin
| River System |
Drainage Area |
Communities |
| Stillwater River |
39.3 mi² (101.79 km²) |
Princeton, Boylston, Sterling, and Westminster, Massachusetts |
| Quinapoxet River |
57 mi² (147.6 km²) |
Boylston, Worcester, Holden, Paxton, and Rutland, Massachusetts |
| Nashua River |
108 mi² (279.7 km²) |
Boylston, Clinton, Leominster, Fitchburg, Groton, Northborough, Dunstable, and Pepperell, Massachusetts plus Nashua, New Hampshire |
| Squannacook River |
73 mi² (189.1 km²) |
Greenville, New Ipswich, and Mason, New Hampshire plus West Groton and Townsend, Massachusetts |
| Nissitissit River |
23 mi² (59.57 km²) |
Brookline, Hollis, New Hampshire and Pepperell, Massachusetts |
|
- ^ Nashua River Watershed. Retrieved on January 3, 2007.
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