Next New England

What happens when a company leaves a company town? We talk to an ethnographer who charts the story of a New Hampshire paper mill that closed, leaving hard feelings and few jobs behind. We also track water quality in two New England Bays, and examine the source of some of our water pollution problems — the lightly regulated residential septic system. Finally, we visit a Boston laboratory for creating new beats. Dryers on the Number 3 paper machine at the now-demolished paper mill in Groveton, Nh. From a 1955 Vanity Fair sales catalog. (Courtesy GREAT) State of the Bays Bangs Island Mussels worker Jon Gorman sets juvenile mussells onto rope that will be their home for the next year as they grow to market size. (Fred Bever/ Maine Public) When it comes to water quality, there’s a lot that scientists have to monitor. Pollution, invasive species, and climate change are just a few of their concerns. And these problems are often linked together, so it can be hard to pinpoint the cause of unhealthy waterways. W