North and South Rivers Basin: Plymouth County, Massachusetts, Massachusetts River Basin Planning Program

Excerpts from the report: The North and South Rivers Basin is located about 15 miles south of Boston and is almost entirely within Plymouth County, Massachusetts. As indicated on the Location Map, the Basin includes major portions of eight towns and minor portions of an additional four communities. The Basin covers about 73,000 acres or 114 square miles. There are two major drainages in the study area; the North River that drains over 50 percent of the area and the South River that drains about 20 percent. Topography is flat and cranberry bogs are an interesting feature of the upper reaches of the Basin. For purposes of the River Basin Planning Program, the study area encompasses the towns of Duxbury, Hanover, Hanson, Marshfield, Norwell, Pembroke, Rockland, and Scituate. Resource inventories and evaluations were made for the entire area included within the boundaries of those eight towns. In June 1978, the Massachusetts Water Resource Commission requested the Soil Conservation Service to develop a Plan of Work for implementing the Massachusetts River Basin Planning Program. The intent of the Massachusetts River Basin Planning Program is to assist small groups of communities in working together to solve intertown or basinwide problems especially in the areas of flooding, water quality, water supply, land use, and recreation.