Welcome to
Upper Blackstone Clean Water

Thank you for your interest in Upper Blackstone! We are one of New England’s largest wastewater treatment plants (clean water facilities) serving roughly 250,000 people in the greater Worcester area of central Massachusetts.  We manage biosolids for an additional ten Massachusetts communities. Our seven member communities include the City of Worcester and the Towns of Auburn, Holden, Millbury, Rutland, West Boylston, and the Cherry Valley Sewer District (CVSD), a portion of the Town of Leicester. 

Upper Blackstone serves our customers by providing a high level of advanced biological wastewater treatment. Following treatment, effluent is discharged near the headwaters of the Blackstone River in Millbury, Massachusetts. The Blackstone River originates at the confluence of Middle River and Mill Brook in Worcester and flows southeast for 46 miles into Rhode Island where it joins the Seekonk and Providence Rivers, subsequently discharging into Narragansett Bay. Upper Blackstone’s stringent National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit limits are based on the water quality standards of both the River and Bay. To meet these standards, Upper Blackstone operates a biological nutrient removal (BNR) treatment process to reduce conventional pollutants as well as nitrogen, phosphorus, and metals.

We hope you have an opportunity to browse our website or visit our plant for a tour. Our team of dedicated wastewater professionals looks forward to meeting you and sharing with you our commitment to:

Stewardship Through Science