美国环境保护署(Environmental Protection Agency)周三将查尔斯河的水质评级评为“a -”，这是自1995年环保署发起“清洁查尔斯河倡议”以来，这条河获得的最高等级。来自美国环保署、波士顿科学博物馆、查尔斯河流域协会、马萨诸塞州环境保护部和马萨诸塞州水资源管理局的代表在科学博物馆发表了关于查尔斯河水质如何改善，以及该市应如何继续给予河流应有的关注的演讲。“我们都知道查尔斯是什么，”美国环保署地区局长柯蒂斯·斯伯丁说。“我们知道它实际上污染严重。这被认为是公共妨害。如今，查尔斯河上到处都是跑步者、划船者、划鸭者等等。这是波士顿从一个肮脏粗暴的城市转变为现在被人们称为美国雅典的城市的基石。”2003年，查尔斯河的水质评级为“B-”，较1995年的“D”级有所改善。马萨诸塞州说，周三授予的等级是几十年来最高的，这表明查尔斯号已经变得多么有用。DEP副局长加里·莫兰。 “It is now safe for boating 96 percent of the time and for swimming 70 percent of the time,” he said. “That’s a difference of when boating was at 39 percent when this initiative started in 1995, swimming at just 19 percent.” Boston Mayor Martin Walsh has lauded community efforts to improve the Charles’ water quality and said no single organization could have made the river as clean as it currently is. “The cleanup of the Charles River has been a tremendous success story that speaks to the power of good policy and collaboration,” Walsh said in a Wednesday press release. “I’d like to applaud and thank all those involved in this effort…and in particular, the local volunteers who have made this possible. You continue to raise the bar for urban rivers across the U.S. and world.” Several individuals at Wednesday’s press conference worked personally to clean up the Charles and applauded the work of their fellow clean-water advocates. CRWA intern Anjana Tamrakar said she was happy to see tangible evidence of what her organization has accomplished. “It’s my pleasure to work with an association that has done so much,” she said. “The Charles River was not in a good condition at all. They had tried for more than two or three decades, and the quality has improved so much. Now, you can see people on the river swimming, rowing and boating. I want to work in this industry to make the city and world better for everyone.” Elisabeth Cianciola, an aquatic scientist for the CRWA, said she hopes other environmental projects can be as successful as the CCRI. “It’s inspiring to be working with people who have been committed to this project for so many years. They’ve really made measureable progress,” she said. “I doubt that I would have been as interested in working with the CRWA if I hadn’t seen that it already had a great track record with all these different restoration projects.” Elie Saroufim, a special projects coordinator for the Boston Water and Sewer Commission, said he remembers how contaminated and dangerous the Charles River used to be. “I remember when I was a kid, it was one of those things where we would dare each other back in high school to jump into the Charles, and we would joke about growing a third leg,” he said. “And today, if someone asked me to jump into the Charles, I would actually comfortably know that I could and be healthy and safe, and that’s a wonderful thing.”
