Shawsheen River

Shawsheen River at Pinehurst

The Shawsheen River is a right tributary of the Merrimack River in northeastern U.S. state of Massachusetts.

In addition to today's spelling was formerly also the spellings Shawshine, Shashin, Shashine and Shashene common. This name means " great source ". The 40 km long river flows mainly northward through the towns of Bedford, Billerica, Tewksbury and Andover and empties into the Merrimack River in Lawrence. He had a great importance in the colonization of its catchment area, because on its banks many mills were built to take advantage of the water power. Today, walking trails and parks along the river and the Shawsheen River Watershed Association, there are attempts to maintain the flow.

In June 2001, the Merrimack River Watershed Council noted that the Shawsheen River failed to respect the legal water quality standards. As a result of increased pollution, large parts of the river were included in the list of damaged waters of the Clean Water Act.