"In his first book in six years, Quabbin Reservoir historian J.R. Greene presents a different kind of history of the old Swift River Valley. Using actual ephemera items from valley businesses, industries, and societies, their story is presented with illustrations of the objects, views of the buildings where they originated, and portraits of some of the people behind them. The accompanying text outlines the story of these valley institutions, with much new information not previously published in any book."--Page 4 of cover.
A collection of vintage photographs and an informative text provide a nostalgic look at the Quabbin Valley, from 1750 to 1938, documenting the everyday lives of the inhabitants of Dana, Enfield, Prescott, Greenwich, and their environs, until they were displaced when the region was flooded to create the Quabbin Reservoir. Original.
Dana, Enfield, Greenwich, Prescott-- four towns are dismantled slowly while their inhabitants grieve for a history and heritage that has been voted away from them. A family saga based on an actual event which displaced four entire towns in central Massachusetts for the construction of a reservoir to supply water for Boston, where families are divided between those who protest the construction project, those who give up and leave, and those who help to build it.
In the tradition of Silent Spring, a modern parable of the American experience and our paradoxical relationship with the natural world. Though it seems a part of the "natural" landscape of New England today, the Swift River Valley reservoir, dam, dike, and nature area was a triumph of civil engineering. It combined forward-looking environmental stewardship and social policy, yet the “little people”—and the four towns in which they lived—got lost along the way. Elisabeth Rosenberg has crafted Before the Flood to be both a modern and a universal story in a time when managed retreat will one day be a reality. Meticulously researched, Before the Flood, is the first narrative book on the incredible history of the Swift River Valley and the origins Quabbin Reservoir. Rosenberg dive into the socioeconomic and psychological aspects of the Swift River Valley’s destruction in order to supply drinking water for the growing populations of Boston and wider Massachusetts. It is as much a human story as the story of water and landscape, and Before the Flood movingly reveals both the stories and the science of the key players and the four flooded towns that were washed forever away.
"Entertaining, disturbing, memorable, and sophisticated, this mortality tale will continue to haunt after the last pages are turned." – School Library Journal All Chris really wants is to be a normal kid, to hang out with his friends, avoid his parents, and get a date with Rebecca Schwartz. Unfortunately, Chris appears to be turning into a vampire. So while his hometown performs an ancient ritual that keeps Tch’muchgar, the Vampire Lord, locked in another world, Chris desperately tries to save himself from his own vampiric fate. He needs help, but whom can he trust? A savagely funny tale of terror, teen angst, suspense, and satire from National Book Award winner M. T. Anderson.
In 1997, New York City adopted a mammoth watershed agreement to protect its drinking water and avoid filtration of its large upstate surface water supply. Shortly thereafter, the NRC began an analysis of the agreement's scientific validity. The resulting book finds New York City's watershed agreement to be a good template for proactive watershed management that, if properly implemented, will maintain high water quality. However, it cautions that the agreement is not a guarantee of permanent filtration avoidance because of changing regulations, uncertainties regarding pollution sources, advances in treatment technologies, and natural variations in watershed conditions. The book recommends that New York City place its highest priority on pathogenic microorganisms in the watershed and direct its resources toward improving methods for detecting pathogens, understanding pathogen transport and fate, and demonstrating that best management practices will remove pathogens. Other recommendations, which are broadly applicable to surface water supplies across the country, target buffer zones, stormwater management, water quality monitoring, and effluent trading.
