Ipswich River Watershed Association

09/03/2026

She first came down the Ipswich River as a camper. This summer, she came back as a counselor. 🛶💚

More than a decade after her first canoe trip, our 2026 Kerry Mackin Intern returned to the river to introduce more than 600 young people to the place that helped spark her own love of nature.

From water quality testing and macroinvertebrates to turtles, teamwork, and an ecological “murder mystery,” she spent 23 days leading programs on and off the river and sharing her enthusiasm with the next generation.

Now she’s heading back to UMass Amherst for her senior year, but we’re so glad she spent the summer with us!

Read her story of coming full circle on the Ipswich River. 👇

Over a decade ago, I was an elementary schooler taking her first canoe trip down the Ipswich River at summer camp. Wearing a massive smile and unbelievable amounts of sunscreen, I sat in the center of the canoe, listening to the birds and feeling the water splash up onto me.  Over a decade later, I...

08/28/2026

💧 It’s World Water Week! We’re celebrating by taking a closer look at what’s in our water, and how we know whether our rivers are healthy.

Have you ever wondered what’s in the Ipswich River? We’ve been tracking it!

Led by Ryan O’Donnell, our Science & Monitoring team collects data on water quality, macroinvertebrates, and streamflow to help us understand the health of the Ipswich River and inform our restoration and resiliency work.

With the help of our extraordinary Riverwatch volunteers, we collect water quality samples at 35 sites throughout the Ipswich River watershed and beyond, including the mainstem and major tributaries.

And now, you can explore the data, too! 🌊

This summer, intern Fiona Monahan developed a new interactive dashboard where you can explore our monitoring data and see long-term trends in the health of the river.

🔎 Dive into the data and see what we’re finding!
https://019fdd15-9743-740e-0430-f5f8cc918311.share.connect.posit.cloud/

08/26/2026

💧 It’s World Water Week! We’re celebrating by bringing you some water data from across the Ipswich River watershed and taking a look at what water conservation success can look like.

One way we measure progress is Residential Gallons Per Capita Day (RGPCD), or how much water the average person uses each day.

MassDEP’s standard is 65 gallons per person per day. At Ipswich River Watershed Association, we’re aiming even higher: 40 gallons per person per day for every community in the watershed.

And we’re making progress! 🌱 As this graph shows, many of our communities are moving toward that 40-gallon goal. In 2025, Ipswich came closest at 42 gallons per person per day.

Want to see how your community is doing? Check out our water data profiles to explore water use, sources, and conservation progress in communities across the Ipswich River watershed: https://www.ipswichriver.org/water-conservation/

08/24/2026

💧 It’s World Water Week! We’re celebrating by sharing a closer look at how our communities use water, and what we can do to protect this precious resource.

More than 350,000 people and businesses across the North Shore rely on the Ipswich River for plentiful, clean drinking water.

This graph shows water use from public water supplies across communities in the Ipswich River basin in 2025. While water use varies from community to community, every municipality has an important role to play in protecting our shared water supply.

That’s why communities across the geographic Ipswich River watershed are working together through the North Shore Water Resilience Task Force to build a more resilient water supply while improving the health of the river and its ecosystems.

💦 Don’t see your community on the graph? Check out our water data profiles to learn more about where your community’s water comes from and how much it uses.

https://www.ipswichriver.org/water-conservation/

08/17/2026

🔎 How much life can we find at Hood Pond? Let’s find out! 🌿🐸🍄

Join us for BioBlitz: Participatory Science at Hood Pond on Saturday, September 26, from 10 AM–12 PM.

Spend the morning exploring Hood Pond and helping identify the plants, animals, fungi, and other signs of life that make up this special place. You’ll learn how to collect observations using iNaturalist, investigate water quality, and contribute real data that helps scientists and conservation organizations understand and protect local habitats.

No experience necessary. Just bring your curiosity and a willingness to get outside! 🐝🌱

📍 Hood Pond, 141 Haverhill Road, Topsfield
📅 Saturday, September 26
⏰ 10 AM–12 PM

Come explore, learn, and help us take a snapshot of Hood Pond’s biodiversity!

👉 RSVP here:

Saturday, September 26, 2026 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM Hood Pond, 141 Haverhill Road, Topsfield, MA 01983 Join the Ipswich River Watershed Association for BioBlitz: Participatory Science at Hood Pond, a fun, family-friendly community science event where people of all ages work together to identify plant...

08/17/2026

Tomorrow! 🍄 Join us Tuesday, August 18 from 12–1 PM for a virtual Fungi of New England Lunch & Learn with Jana Harris of Essex Forays.

Whether you’re an experienced forager or looking to deepen your knowledge of New England’s fungi, this illustrated presentation will cover common local genera, medicinal mushrooms, and practical resources for the field, followed by Q&A.

There’s still time to register! 🍄💻

When: Tuesday, August 18th, 12:00–1:00 PMWhere: Zoom Join us for a virtual lunch-and-learn on the fungi of New England! This talk is ideal for foragers with some prior mushroom experience—whether you learned about local species growing up, or you’re familiar with mushrooms from another region ...

08/11/2026

Help us convince the Mass Ready Conference Committee to keep the Senate’s drought management language. Can you take a few minutes to request the assistance of your legislators? The most important action that MA legislature can take to project our future water supplies is to keep drought management language in the Mass Ready Act.

Please take two minutes to send one email asking your state legislators to to remove “anti” measures that threaten clean water.

08/07/2026

This summer, IRWA Resilience Intern Olivia McDonald analyzed more than a decade of community water use data to uncover trends across the Ipswich River watershed. Her findings highlight encouraging progress in water conservation, identify opportunities to reduce water loss through infrastructure improvements, and show how everyday actions help protect the river, especially during times of drought.

Read Olivia's blog to see how your community is doing and why every gallon saved makes a difference.

Olivia taking a break from data analysis to tour Reynolds Farm in Wenham.

08/06/2026

Interns at IRWA would never complain about rain... but the downpour on Monday really was something! They gave up on their attempted macroinvertebrate sampling at Gravelly Brook only after getting thoroughly soaked. At any rate, what's good for the river is good for us!