bartlet mall restoration project
City priority
Bartlet Mall was Newburyport’s town common, now hundreds of years old. The City has prioritized its restoration to serve future generations.
Contamination
The Frog Pond formed during the Ice Age. Its shape is essentially unchanged, but water no longer flows in or out. The bed is contaminated.
- In 2014, a City-funded study identified heavy metals, cyanobacteria, and phosphorous in the pond sediment, which feed algal blooms.
- Dredging and disposing of pond sediment would be exorbitantly expensive and environmentally insensitive.
- In 2017, the City tried a low-cost, reverse-osmosis system, but this failed due to the sheer volume of phosphorous present in the pond.
Project overview
The current project learns from past approaches that proved flawed or incomplete. Multiple state and local agencies have approved it.
Permanent, complete and cost-effective decontamination of the pond:
- Contaminated pond sediment will be encapsulated using a high‐density polyethylene (HDPE) liner, protective armor stone and benthic sand to provide habitat and facilitate maintenance.
- The pond does not use the drinking-water system. A well will be drilled to bedrock and a circulation / aeration system installed.
- Native species will be replanted to improve the habitat.
Historic rehabilitation based on 19thc. landscape architect Charles Eliot’s original vision, and his original plans:
- Walkways around the pond and throughout the park will be restored.
- The swan foundation can be used again, due to safe water quality.
- A dock will be installed to support possible recreational boating and further aid in aeration of the water.
- A granite edge will be installed around the pond to prevent runoff into the pond, and to provide seating and interpretative information.
The total project cost is just over $5 million. Funding will come from Community Preservation Act bonding, and public and private grants.