Lifestyle: The Bell Pond Whirlpool is an Urban Legend - Worcester Telegram

When I asked Senior Environmental Analyst Jacquelyn Burmeister if there was a powerful vortex in the middle of Bell Pond that could swallow me whole, she started to laugh.

“You are actually not the first person to ask me that,” she said, “But, it’s definitely an urban legend — there’s no whirlpool. Bell Pond is only 17 feet deep.”

This confirmed my longstanding suspicion that the story had served as an overzealous safety precaution. In retrospect, I feel that a simple, “Don’t swim past the buoy,” might have sufficed.

Tall tales couldn’t stop me from splashing around in Indian Lake, Cook’s Pond, and Coes Reservoir well into my adolescence. By the time I heard someone call Worcester’s lakes and ponds “dirty,” I was already a teen. That’s when I realized that Worcester’s negative perceptions of blue space run much deeper than Bell Pond.

Our city is home to 20 bodies of water. Despite the fact that in most communities, waterfront property translates into primo real estate, the majority of waterfront establishments in Worcester are oriented toward the street.

I demand to know what’s stopping us from embracing our “liquid” assets.

Burmeister was hired by the City of Worcester in the fall of 2016 as part of the Lakes and Ponds Program, which serves to keep our blue space swimmable and in turn promote economic development. She chalks up a lot of common misconceptions about the health of Worcester’s lakes and ponds to our city’s industrial past. She’ll be the first to admit that most urban areas face water quality challenges due to litter, storm water, and invasive aquatic plants. But, according to Burmeister, Worcester is far “ahead of the game” when it comes to monitoring, mitigating and keeping the public safe.

“One of the goals of the Lakes and Ponds Program is to help business owners and landowners see how much value there is in the waterfront,” Burmeister told me. She cites the city’s best model for active blue space as Lake Quinsigamond, which has become increasingly popular for rowing, sailing, dragon boat racing, paddle boarding and swimming in the warmer months.

“Worcester is actually one of the first communities in the country allocating money toward a municipal lakes and ponds program to work with watershed associations and help guide their efforts and priorities,” Burmeister said. “Because at the end of the day, we want to make sure that we are focusing on what the residents would like to see happening at the lakes.”

On March 4, the Department of Public Works and Parks will host “The State of the Lakes,” an event designed to recruit new citizen scientists to help study and improve our local waterways. Concerned residents have worked in silos for years, but this is a chance to complement municipal and state efforts that will incur lasting change. Refreshments with the citizen scientists kick off at 6 p.m. in the Blackstone Heritage Corridor Visitor Center with a formal program to follow at 6:30 p.m.

I can’t wait to tear it up in Bell Pond this summer. It’s been too long.