“Love That Dirty Water” Is a Terrific Lyric, but Terrible Public Policy for the Charles River

Paul S. Grogan
President & CEO Emeritus, The Boston Foundation
E. Bruce Berman, Jr.
Director of Strategy & Communications Emeritus, Save the Harbor/Save the Bay

Every October, the Head of the Charles Regatta turns the Charles River into a grand civic stage, as crews race through Boston and Cambridge. The river runs past some of the most powerful institutions in America — Harvard, MIT, Boston University, hospitals, laboratories, companies, and campuses that help define us. From its banks, you can hear the coxswains’ calls. On a calm summer night, you can hear the Fenway faithful singing the Standells’ anthem “Dirty Water” just 1,000 yards away.

But the Charles should be more than a backdrop for world-class rowing, corporate brochures, or university marketing materials. It should be a world-class river. Sadly, it is not.

This summer, Bostonians were invited to swim in the Charles — for just one day, with testing, planning, and a special permit. Soon after, the Boston Public Health Commission issued a health advisory about cyanobacteria in the river, which was finally lifted late last month. 

The Boston Public Health Commission lifted the most recent cyanobacteria 
advisory for the Charles River on September 22, but storm water and 
CSO discharges still put the public's health at risk after even a small rain. 

This is a serious public health problem. It is also a reputational risk. An algae bloom during the Head of the Charles could embarrass Boston before an international audience, as the Seine embarrassed Paris during the Olympics.

For all its brochure-ready beauty, the Charles remains a dirty little river with great PR. In a region this rich, educated, innovative, and powerful, that should shame us.

We know how to solve complex environmental problems. Boston Harbor was once a national disgrace. Citizens pushed, lawyers sued, judges ordered, regulators enforced, agencies built, ratepayers paid, and political leaders cut the ribbons. The result was cleaner water and a renewed harbor at the center of civic life.

Done right, public works projects like the Boston Harbor Cleanup create value that far exceeds their cost. It attracted  billions in private investment along the water's edge and gave Boston the cleanest urban beaches in the nation.

The Charles belongs to all of us. It should be clean enough for fishing, boating, and swimming "damn near every day". That was the late great Judge A. David Mazzone’s standard for Boston Harbor. It should be ours for the Charles.

Restoring the Charles will not be easy. Responsibility is fragmented across agencies, communities, landowners, and institutions. But complexity is not an excuse. Leadership matters. Government must enforce the law, fund infrastructure, control pollution, and protect public health. But the river can't wait for government to act.

Harvard, MIT, and Boston University don't just sit beside the river. The Charles is part of how they present themselves to students, donors, faculty, and the world. Their identities are tied to the Charles. Their responsibilities should be, too.

To their credit, BU, Harvard, and MIT have stepped up before on stormwater and pollution-reduction efforts. But the scale of the problem now requires something far larger and more coordinated. It requires "Big Philanthropy".

They certainly have the resources. Together they hold roughly $88 billion in endowment assets — and their alumni, trustees, and donors control billions more. Some of that wealth should be put to work restoring the river that helps define them.

The Boston Foundation and the Barr Foundation should help create a Charles River Restoration Trust, funded by the institutions, companies, donors, alumni, and investors who have prospered along the river. Not a conference, panel, or glossy report, but a working group with money, deadlines, engineering capacity, public dashboards, and public accountability.

Its mission should be to make the Charles clean, safe, and swimmable within ten years. Start with a nine-figure fund large enough to matter. The first priority should be to identify the highest-impact projects and invest philanthropic funds to move them forward — jump-starting government investment, not replacing it.

The universities and business community should be at the table, along with the MWRA, environmental agencies, and the cities and towns that pollute the river every time it rains. The region’s environmental organizations and advocates should be involved as well.

Bostonians have celebrated home wins at Fenway Park with “Dirty Water” since the late 1990s. It would be a game changer if Red Sox owner and Globe publisher John Henry put the team and the city’s leading newspaper behind a campaign to clean the Charles. Bill Taylor, the late Globe publisher, did it for Boston Harbor. Henry could do it for the Charles.

A river bordered by so much wealth and power should be more than scenery. It should be clean and safe for everyone to use and enjoy.

Boston still sings that it loves that dirty water. If we really love the Charles, it’s time to clean it up.

 

About the Authors

Paul Grogan and Bruce Berman write from firsthand experience of the Boston Harbor Cleanup, one of the most consequential urban environmental success stories in modern America. In today's challenging political climate, they are looking for "new models that work" to fund transformational investments that protect the environment, strengthen communities and improve people's lives.

Paul S. Grogan is an American civic and philanthropic leader best known for serving as President and CEO of The Boston Foundation from 2001 to 2021.

During his tenure, he helped expand the Foundation’s role as one of the nation’s leading community foundations, advancing work in urban and regional economic development, education reform, workforce development, public policy, and environmental initiatives — including support for the transformation of Boston Harbor.

Before joining The Boston Foundation, Grogan served as Vice President for Government, Community and Public Affairs at Harvard University, where he oversaw government relations, community partnerships with Boston and Cambridge.

He is widely recognized for advancing “civic leadership philanthropy” — using foundation resources not only for grantmaking, but to drive systemic change through research, public policy engagement, and cross-sector partnerships.

E. Bruce Berman, Jr. is an environmental advocate and communications strategist best known for his long leadership role with Save the Harbor/Save the Bay in Boston, where he served as Director of Strategy & Communications from 1990 to 2022. 

He played a central role in building the public awareness, political support, and cross‑sector partnerships that sustained the multi‑decade effort to transform Boston Harbor from a polluted “Harbor of Shame” into one of the cleanest urban harbors in the nation.

Berman served on the City of Boston's Municipal Harbor Plan Advisory Committee and served as Lead Consultant to the Metropolitan Beaches Commission for the Massachusetts Legislature.

In addition to his advocacy work, Berman taught public policy and marine science at Boston University, helping connect environmental science with civic leadership and public decision‑making.