Join MCWRS!
Increasingly stringent limits based on questionable science. Escalating costs to comply with permits with diminishing environmental returns. Aging and failing systems requiring significant capital investment. Little or no federal and state financial assistance. If these issues concern you, please join the Massachusetts Coalition for Water Resources Stewardship – the voice for municipalities. The Coalition focuses on education, research and advocacy for sound and sensible solutions that protect the environment and public health without bankrupting communities. We monitor and respond to policy and regulatory proposals and actions that affect our members – proposals that always entail an added cost to communities. There must be greater responsibility and accountability from regulatory agencies and other stakeholders.
The Coalition has made great strides in reframing the regulatory environment by ensuring that state and federal elected officials and regulators hear and consider the concerns and interests of communities and local utilities. The Coalition has indeed become the voice for municipalities on water resources issues as communities struggle to balance competing demands for scarce resources. Regulations must be more holistic, practical and environmentally and fiscally sustainable. With your help, we can accomplish much more.
Here are a few key accomplishments of the Coalition in its second year:
Water Quality Standards Review Initiative
Hall & Associates of Washington, DC reviewed state water quality standards related to nutrients and waste load allocations and issued the white paper (Evaluation of Massachusetts Water Quality Criteria for Nutrients, Bacteria, and Metals) that forms the basis for the Coalition’s strategy to work with regulators to resolve concerns.
Board members serve on the Legislature’s Water Infrastructure Finance Commission and EOEEA’s Sustainable Water Management Initiative
2nd Annual Clean Water Act Strategies Symposium: Sustainable Solutions
Over 100 people from around New England attended on May 16, 2011 to learn from national experts about regional and national trends in water quality permitting.
Advocacy
- Letter to US Senator Brown urging support for US Senate Bill 3481, a bill that requires the federal government to pay local stormwater management service fees
- Comment letter in response to the EPA’s Plan for Retrospective Review under Executive Order 13563, Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review
- Opinion piece criticizing the EPA’s support of a CLF suit against the BWSC
- Comment Letter in response to the EPA’s Draft Massachusetts North Coastal and Interstate, Merrimack and South Coastal Small MS4 General Permit
- Comment Letter in response to MassDEP’s proposed changes to Clean Water SRF Interest-Free Loan Program
- Comment letter in response to the EPA’s questions on its proposed SSOs and Peak Flow Rulemaking
- Comment letter Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Draft General Permit for Residually Designated Discharges in Milford, Bellingham, and Franklin, Massachusetts
In the upcoming year, we will continue to identify ways to reduce the burden of water quality permitting on communities while protecting the environment and public health. Critical aspects of our efforts will be ensuring that permit limits are based on sound science, that more federal and state funds are available to communities and that all stakeholders (public and private) within a watershed participate in the solutions.
Membership entitles you to benefits outlined in the membership packet. Perhaps the greatest benefit is adding your community's voice to a growing number of Coalition members advocating for change. We hope you will join us to improve water resources stewardship and enhance the health of the environment and our communities.
The Coalition has accomplished a great deal in its second year, but there is much more to do. With your help, we can create the change that is necessary.
Sincerely,
Robert L. Moylan, Jr., P.E.
President, Massachusetts Coalition for Water Resources Stewardship