Sawins Pond

Man-made lake in Middlesex County, Massachusetts

42°21′51.5″N 71°09′07″W / 42.364306°N 71.15194°W / 42.364306; -71.15194Typeman-made lake

Sawins Pond is a man-made pond created in the 19th century in Watertown, Massachusetts, USA. Its banks were the site of an upscale hotel, and it was a popular fishing and swimming spot. It was then used by Hood Rubber Company, and then BF Goodrich. They deposited scores of barrels onto the site, filled with rubber scraps.

Boston Edison/NSTAR and PCBs

Boston Edison Company (currently NSTAR) for many years operated a facility just behind the Watertown Mall. From this facility, there are culverts (large underground water drains) that carry storm water and drains under the mall parking lot, into the Sawins and Williams Pond.

Boston Edison used PCBs extensively in the 1970s and 1980s, and still does to this day, albeit on a much more limited basis. During the 1980s and 1990s, there were documented spills at the Boston Edison/NSTAR facility at 480 Arsenal Street. Most of these spills were transformer oil, most of which contains PCBs. In 1982, over 1,100 gallons of PCBs spilled from a truck and went into a storm drain. Unfortunately the spill was not realized by Boston Edison (now NSTAR) company until about a month later, according to EPA and DEP reports. Almost one thousand gallons of high PCB oil reached Sawins, some of it was recovered by Boston Edison company through remediation efforts on the property. The rest is likely to have made its way into the Charles River, with the balance remaining in the pond sediments and comprising the detectable elevated levels seen by scientists today.

NSTAR, a major New England public electric utility, is responsible for the PCB pollution, but has refused to pay for the cleanup or for any assessment/engineering costs.

Lakes and ponds of Massachusetts by drainage system

Lakes

Connecticut River Watershed	Lake Monomonac Lake Wyola
Housatonic River Watershed	Lake Buel Lake Garfield Lake Onota
Merrimack River Watershed	Fairhaven Bay Haggetts Pond Lake Attitash Lake Boon Lake Cochichewick Lake Cochituate Lake Saltonstall Lost Lake Walden Pond
Providence River Watershed	Lake Quinsigamond
Taunton River Watershed	Assonet Bay Lake Nippenicket Lake Rico Lake Sabbatia Long Pond Pocksha Pond
Others	Buffumville Lake Charge Pond Chebacco Lake Crystal Lake Follins Pond Hickory Hills Lake Indian Lake Lake Ashmere Lake Chaubunagungamaug Lake Massapoag Lake Quannapowitt Lewis Lake Mystic Lakes Pine Lake Prankers Pond Silver Lake Wallum Lake Wenham Lake Whites Pond

Ponds

Agawam River Watershed	Fawn Pond Glen Charlie Pond Halfway Pond Little Long Pond (Plymouth) Long Pond (Plymouth) Mill Pond (Wareham) Spectacle Pond (Wareham)
Connecticut River Watershed	Brooks Pond Browning Pond Quaboag Pond Thompson Pond
Eel River Watershed	Boot Pond Cooks Pond Forge Pond Great South Pond Gunners Exchange Pond Hoyts Pond Island Pond (Plymouth) Russell Millpond
Jones River Watershed	Crossman Pond Furnace Pond Harrobs Corner Bog Pond Indian Head Pond Lower Chandler Pond Maquan Pond Oldham Pond Pembroke Street South Pond Reeds Millpond Russell Pond Silver Lake Upper Chandler Pond West Chandler Pond
Mattapoisett River Watershed	Long Pond Snipatuit Pond
Merrimack River Watershed	Tuxbury Pond
Taunton River Watershed	Assawompset Pond Great Quittacas Pond Little Quittacas Pond Monponsett Pond Robbins Pond Tispaquin Pond Watson Pond Watuppa Ponds Winnecunnet Pond
Wankinco River Watershed	East Head Reservoir Parker Mills Pond Tihonet Pond
Others	Abner Pond Arnold School Pond Barrett Pond Bartlett Pond Bates Pond Beaver Dam Pond Big Rocky Pond Big Sandy Pond Billington Sea Black Jimmy Pond Bloody Pond Bullough's Pond Buckmaster Pond Campus Pond Cedar Pond Clay Pit Pond Cliff Pond College Pond Curlew Pond Deer Pond Dug Pond Dunham Pond Elbow Pond Ezekiel Pond Fairyland Pond Fearing Pond Federal Pond Five Mile Pond Flax Pond (Brewster) Fresh Meadow Pond Fresh Pond Fuller Street Pond Gallows Pond Great Herring Pond Great Island Pond Great Pond Hardy Pond Hedges Pond Higgins Pond Hocomonco Pond Horn Pond Houghton's Pond Indian Pond Island Creek Pond Island Pond (Cedarville) Jacobs Pond Jamaica Pond Keene Pond Kings Pond Lake Lashaway Learned Pond Leonards Pond Little Herring Pond Little Long Pond (Wareham) Little Pond Little Rocky Pond Little Sandy Bottom Pond Little Sandy Pond Little West Pond Long Duck Pond Long Island Pond Lout Pond Mary's Pond Mashpee and Wakeby Ponds Menemsha Pond Micajah Pond Mill Pond (Duxbury) Morey Hole Muddy Pond New Long Pond North Hill Marsh Pond North Triangle Pond Pine Street Pond Ponkapoag Pond Redd's Pond Rocky Pond Round Pond Sampsons Pond Sandy Pond Sargent's Pond Savery Pond Sawins Pond Scargo Lake Shallow Pond Ship Pond Shubael Pond Smelt Pond Smith Pool South Meadow Pond South Triangle Pond Spectacle Pond (Sandwich) Spring Pond Spy Pond Stetson Pond Studleys Pond Tremont Mill Pond Triangle Pond Union Pond Vaughn Pond Walker Pond Wampatuck Pond White Pond White Island Pond