In Spring 2026, the Nashua River Watershed Association mentored a team of Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) students on a project exploring socioeconomic factors affecting stream crossings in the Nashua River watershed.
Their work combined field observations, data analysis, and interviews with local officials to better understand how funding, public awareness, and municipal capacity affect infrastructure decisions. A key takeaway from the project was that many residents are not aware of how important culverts are, which often leads to lower prioritization in town budgets. At the same time, communities face limited funding, high replacement costs, and complex grant processes, making it difficult to repair or replace failing infrastructure.
To help address this gap, the students created this short educational video for public outreach.
