The mission of the Watershed Action Alliance (WAA) is to protect and restore the watersheds of Southeastern Massachusetts through strategic collaboration and grassroots efforts. The Alliance also serves to strengthen the individual and collective capacity of its member groups, enabling them to be more effective watershed advocates.

The Alliance focuses on accomplishing the following three goals via public education and public policy advocacy:

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Herring on the Nemasket

What Watershed is Your Town In?

Watersheds by Town

Download the
Southcoastal Watershed Action Plan:
Southcoastal.zip 27 MB

Upcoming Events

“Water Words That Work” Presented by Mr. Eric Eckl

February 10, 2010, 1pm to 4pm, New England Wildlife Center
500 Columbian Street, Weymouth, Mass
$5 Donation Requested

The public consistently tells pollsters that water protection is one of their highest priorities. So why do so few people join watershed associations or demand more legislative action and media coverage on water issues?

Could it be something we’re doing?

The Watershed Action Alliance of Southeastern Massachusetts would like to invite you to a training session that teaches people from environmental groups, government agencies and the media to use the vocabulary and perspective of everyday citizens, and helps them translate shoptalk into environmental speaking and writing that is clear and compelling to them.

You’ll learn to develop the communications skills you need for:

Environmental writing for average citizens
Speaking at public meetings and hearings
Fundraising
Lobbying public officials
Writing for newspapers
Preparing websites

“Mr. Eckl is an environmentalist and also a marketing consultant who understands how to persuade people. He said that scientists, government officials, and his fellow environmentalists often…fail to get through because in many cases people don’t know what they are talking about and therefore don’t care. Mr. Eckl is absolutely right.”
– Eric Smith, Annapolis Capital Newspaper

Seating is limited, so RSVP as soon as possible to Steve Pearlman at 781-575-0354 ext. 304 or pearlman@neponset.org. Hope to see you there!

Meeting of the Watershed Action Alliance

February 10, 2010 at 11am, New England Wildlife Center
(Just before Eric Eckl’s “Water Words That Work" Seminar)
500 Columbian Street, Weymouth, Mass
Bring your lunch

Latest News on Proposed Legislation and Regulations

New legislation introduced in 2009 to protect rivers

WAA’s major legislative priority this year is the adoption of state Representative Frank Smizik’s proposed Sustainable Water Resources Act (Bill H 834). The bill would mandate state adoption of “streamflow standards” in every Massachusetts watershed, which would include specific criteria for protecting fisheries, aquatic life and other “instream” uses such as recreation. The bill would also require the state Office of Dam Safety to consider dam removal as an option for dealing with unsafe dams (removal of obsolete dams is highly beneficial environmentally). Finally, it would authorize public water suppliers to implement “waterbanking,” under which they could charge a small fee for new and expanded service to be spent on measures that conserve water supplies or protect them from pollution. When and if this bill comes up for a vote, we will post it on this website and ask you to voice your support to your legislators. For more information on the bill see: http://massriversalliance.org/sustainablewateract.html.

Herring Kiosk reservations - 2010

For reservations, contact Steve Pearlman:
pearlman@neponset.org; 781-575-0354 ext. 304