Mother of all cleanups

When the water level dropped in Mother Brook this summer, decades worth of debris, disregard and neglect were exposed on the muddy bottom.
Neighborhood residents watching the water recede saw dirt bikes, road signs, an air conditioner and dozens of rusty shopping carts emerge from the old East Dedham waterway, said to be the oldest canal in the nation.
But along with surprise and disappointment, the canal's condition inspired neighbors and community leaders, already focused on revitalizing the area, to begin a cleanup.
``When the water was down, it was embarrassing,'' Stafford Street resident Charles Krueger said yesterday. ``You want someone driving through there to want to live there. Visibility is everything.''
Krueger was one of around 20 volunteers, including state Rep. Paul McMurtry, D-Dedham, and selectmen Chairman Carmen DelloIacono to gather at the Bussey Street bridge Sunday morning with ropes, grappling hooks and numerous trash bags for one of the first organized cleanups of Mother Brook in years.
The need for a cleanup became apparent after the state closed the dam separating the Charles River from the brook near Providence Highway.
In four hours of toil, volunteers found car doors, tires, a police barricade and a large construction sign still attached to legs that had held it over the roadway. Around 30 shopping carts were found dumped either directly in the water or in the surrounding woods from stores both current and long out of business.
``If the dam was still closed, we would have found more,'' Krueger said. ``The hardest thing was the air conditioner. It took six of us to get it over the fence.''
The Department of Public Works donated bags to put garbage in and hauled everything away yesterday morning.
Mother Brook was created in the mid-17th century as a power source for corn mills by connecting the Charles River to the Neponset River, which has a lower elevation.
The state Department of Conservation and Recreation owns Mother Brook and this summer lowered the water so it could repair the gate connecting it to the Charles.
Some of the water was returned in September and last week, just before the cleanup, Mother Brook was returned to its normal water level.
In addition to the outrage sparked by seeing the canal drained of water, another inspiration for the cleanup was the ``East Dedham Summit'' hosted by McMurtry two weeks ago and intended to focus attention on revitalization of the area.
Despite hauling significant quantities of debris out of the canal Sunday, volunteers know there is still a lot more to be cleaned up. Krueger said the group is working with the conservation department to schedule another cutoff of the water so a second cleanup can get to debris farther from shore.
Jay Brogan of Ware Street, who participated in the project, said not cleaning up Mother Brook was a waste of one of the town's more important resources.
``It could be prime real estate if it was taken care of,'' Brogan said. ``I'm just glad everyone showed up and hopefully we can do it again soon.''
Daily News staff writer Patrick Anderson can be reached at 781-433-8336 or panderso@cnc.com.