Watershed Action Alliance of Southeastern Massachusetts (WAA) works with member organizations to protect and improve the health of the waterways and watersheds of southeastern Massachusetts.

We do this by:

-- Sharing resources and ideas with member organizations; 
-- Raising public awareness of watershed issues; and, 
-- Building effective relationships with our state and local decision-makers.

WAA membership is made up of 14 organizations including watershed associations, a neighborhood association and the Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribe, spanning 66 towns in southeastern Massachusetts.

An overarching goal of the Alliance is to promote the sustainable use of water and the implementation of smart growth policies to protect the natural environment and keep water local. If water is returned to the ground near its source, we can provide sufficient water to meet the human needs of a growing population and still have enough in our streams and rivers to sustain the native fish, plants, and other aquatic life unique to southeastern Massachusetts.

Another goal of the Alliance is to restore the many fish runs that traditionally brought millions of shad, herring and other migrating fish into our rivers, streams and ponds to spawn in the springtime. These fish live in the ocean but must release their eggs in fresh water. Because of dams and other obstructions that stop their path (and for other reasons), populations of these anadromous fish have plummeted. Many Alliance members are working on removing dams and restoring rivers in their watershed.

We focus the following efforts to achieve our goals:

* Implementing common sense water conservation measures to prevent our surface and ground waters from going dry due to wasteful water use;
* Restoring free-flowing rivers by removing dams in order to bring back our ancient herring and shad runs, reduce risks to human health and safety, and enhance boating and recreation in healthy aquatic habitats.
* Reducing water pollution to make our drinking water safe and our waterways fishable and swimmable as mandated by the federal Clean Water Act.

The mission of the Watershed Action Alliance (WAA) is to protect and restore the watersheds of southeastern Massachusetts through strategic collaboration, grassroots efforts, outreach and education. 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:

* Maintaining adequate, natural stream flows for fish, wildlife and human recreation by:  implementing common sense water conservation measures to prevent our surface and ground waters from being sucked dry by wasteful water use.
* Restoring free-flowing rivers by removing dams in order to bring back our ancient herring and shad runs, reduce risks to human health and safety, and enhance boating and recreation in healthy aquatic habitats.
* Reducing water pollution to make our drinking water safe and our waterways “fishable and swimmable” as mandated by the federal Clean Water Act.

...

 Back River Watershed Association

Flows Into: Boston Harbor
Linda DiAngelo, President
Phone: 781-337-8085
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The Back River Watershed Association is a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving, protecting and promoting the Back River Watershed in the towns of Hingham and Weymouth and parts of Abington, Braintree and Rockland. The Back River, which empties into Hingham Bay, offers excellent canoeing and kayaking and is home to many parks, reservations, about 150 species of birds and 31 species of fish. The river provides one the largest fish runs for herring and smelt, which live in the ocean but lay their eggs in fresh water, as well as for eel, which live in fresh water but lay their eggs in the ocean.

Barnstable Clean Water Coalition

Flows Into: Nantucket Sound and Cape Cod Bay

Barnstable Clean Water Coalition (BCWC) is a non-profit organization that evolved from Three Bays Preservation, Inc., a group formed in 1996 to protect Dead Neck Island and monitor the waters of North, Cotuit and West Bays in the Three Bays watershed in Barnstable. In June 2017, BCWC was established to restore and preserve clean water in all five watersheds throughout the 76 square miles of Barnstable. BCWC utilizes science, education, conservation, technology and environmental advocacy in its mission to address the water quality issues facing our bays, streams, ponds, and sole source aquifer. Ongoing BCWC projects include managing the herring count at the Mill Pond fish ladder of the Marstons Mills River herring run, collecting water quality data at 18 sites in the Three Bays estuary, monitoring streamflow and nitrogen at ten sites along the Marstons Mills River watershed, collecting marine invasive species data at five locations in Barnstable, and expanding freshwater sampling to 23 sites through the Ponds and Lakes Stewardship (PALS) program.

Eel River Watershed Association

Flows Into: Cape Cod Bay

Mettie Whipple, President
Phone: 508-747-0493
Mail: PO Box 1036, Plymouth, MA 02360
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Website: www.eelriverwatershed.org
Phone: 207-847-3634

 The Eel River Watershed Association is a non-profit organization, incorporated in 1997 dedicated to protecting the Eel River and its wildlife. Over 100 households in the watershed are members of the Association, representing roughly 15% of the households in the watershed.

Herring Ponds Watershed Association

Flows into: Cape Cod Canal

Don Williams, President                   Email:This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The Herring Ponds Watershed Association (HPWA) was established in 2007 as a volunteer neighborhood association.

Our focus is health of all the water in our watershed : the groundwater we pump and use in our homes, the water in ponds and streams we enjoy for recreation, and that used by native plants and wildlife in our neighborhoods and ecosystem.

HPWA works to raise awareness of the importance and fragility of our state-designated Area of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC), to protect and preserve the ponds and watershed through citizen science and education.

Our ACEC encompasses 4,450-acres in southern Plymouth and Bourne, including 11 ponds (the largest, Great Herring is 376 acres), two rivers, numerous freshwater wetlands, productive cranberry bogs, an important and active herring run, and over 250 acres of protected open space.

Our all-volunteer efforts include regular water quality sampling, supplemental runoff event sampling, flow gauge reporting, and public educational programs. We also created The Herring Ponds Watershed – Your Stewardship Guide, featuring information on the water cycle, ponds, wildlife, history, and emphasizing tips for sustainable living in and protection of the watershed.

Jones River Watershed Association

Flows Into: Cape Cod Bay

Pine duBois, Executive Director

Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.Office: 781-585-2322
Location: Jones River Landing, 55 Landing Road, Kingston, MA
Mail: 55 Landing Road, Kingston, MA 02364

Website: www.jonesriver.org

The Jones River Watershed Association is a non-profit, member-based organization established to protect, enhance, and restore the natural resources of the watershed and its extended ecosystem though advocacy, protection of sensitive riparian lands, habitat restoration, and infrastructure improvements.

We began our work in 1985 in response to the terrible impacts of water diversions out of the basin. Since that time, we have maintained an increasingly consistent level of effort to educate others and ourselves about this small coastal ecosystem and its relationship to the globally significant Gulf of Maine. In 2011 we took down the middle dam on Jones river, and In 2012 we joined forces with others to launch the Cape Cod Bay Watch Campaign to correct the destructive impacts from the cooling water intake structure at the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station and develop a network to protect the species, habitats and health of the bay.

Neponset River Watershed Association

Flows into: Boston Harbor

Office: 781-575-0354
Mail: 2173 Washington Street, Canton, MA 02021
Ian Cooke, Executive Director; Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., Phone: ext 305
Robert McGregor, President
Website: www.neponset.org

Neponset River Watershed Association (NepRWA) members, staff, Board of Directors, volunteers and supporters work to protect and restore the Neponset River, its tributaries and surrounding watershed lands for the benefit of present and future generations.

NepRWA accomplishes this mission through: 

• Environmental monitoring, science, research and planning;
• Outreach and education to the general public and targeted audiences;
• Demonstration projects that highlight new and existing best practices; 
• Political action at the local, state and federal levels;
• On-the-ground cleanup, restoration and preservation projects; and
• Advocacy and, when necessary, litigation.

NepRWA always strives to use a collaborative approach to carry out its mission but will employ legal action or other non-collaborative methods when necessary.

North & South Rivers Watershed Association

Flows Into: Massachusetts Bay

Samantha Woods, Executive Director
Office: 781-659-8168
Mail: PO Box 43, Norwell, MA 02061
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Website: www.nsrwa.org

The North and South Rivers Watershed Association, Inc. (NSRWA) is a non-profit grassroots environmental organization located on the South Shore of Massachusetts. The NSRWA was founded in 1970 and has grown to over 1,500 members today, comprised of individuals, families, businesses, and other environmentally-concerned organizations. The membership comes primarily from the 12 towns within the watershed: Norwell, Hingham, Scituate, Marshfield, Hanover, Pembroke, Whitman, Hanson, Duxbury, Weymouth, Rockland and Abington. The NSRWA was created by a handful of river-lovers bound together by an intense devotion to the natural beauty of the area and a strong commitment to protect these natural resources for their own and future generations.

The mission of the NSRWA is to preserve, restore, maintain and conserve in their natural state, the waters and related natural resources within the watershed.

Pembroke Watershed Association

Represents five ponds in the Town of Pembroke within the North River watershed. 

• Monitor water quality and compile comprehensive reports
• Hold an annual pond clean up day
• Have a Weed Watchers program with classes given by DCR
• Give boating safety courses
• Partner with schools, businesses, other community groups, and area watersheds
• Work closely with local governmental departments and commissions
• Have on-going educational outreach with the general public and youth

Save The Bay: Narragansett Bay

Flows Into: Narragansett Bay

Office: 401-272-3540
Mail: 100 Save The Bay Dr., Providence, RI 02905
Topher Hamblett, Director of Advocacy & Policy,    Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Kate McPherson, Narragansett Bay Riverkeeper,    Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Website: www.savebay.org

The mission of Save The Bay is to ensure that the environmental quality of Narragansett Bay and its watershed is restored and protected from the harmful effects of human activity. Save The Bay seeks carefully planned use of the Bay and its watershed to allow the natural system to function normally and healthfully, both now and for the future.

In defense of Narragansett Bay and its watershed, Save The Bay’s actions include:

• Watching over the activities and programs of government and the citizenry that degrade the environmental quality of the Bay, basin, and watershed.
• Leading the community by initiating programs and activities that increase the environmental awareness and knowledge of the public.
• Initiating action that will directly clean up the Bay.

Six Ponds Improvement Association

Flows into: Buzzards Bay

Pompey Delafield, President
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Website: www.sixponds.org

Mail: P.O. Box 1580, Plymouth, MA 02362

The Six Ponds Improvement Association has worked since its inception in 1952 to advance and preserve the quality of life in the Six Ponds area of Plymouth.  

The six ponds are Bloody, Gallows, Halfway, Little Long, Long and Round Ponds.  In close proximity to one other, the ponds are physiographically different:  Halfway Pond gives rise to the Agawam River, which flows into Buzzards Bay; Little Long Pond feeds directly into Long Pond, which is connected by a culvert to Halfway Pond. Bloody Pond is in the Herring River/South Shore watershed, while Round and Gallows Pond are true coastal plain ponds, with no inlets or outlets.

The Six Ponds area includes many acres of protected open space and is home to the Wildlands Trust, southeastern Massachusetts’ premier nonprofit land protection organization.  The Association strives to preserve the fragile pine barrens environment, protect the water quality of the ponds, and maintain the rural quality of the neighborhood.

Taunton River Watershed Alliance

Flows into: Narragansett Bay

Joe Callahan, President
Phone: 508-243-4116
Mail: PO Box 1116, Taunton, MA 02780
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Website: www.savethetaunton.org

The TRWA is a non-profit alliance of concerned individuals, businesses and organizations who are dedicated to protecting and restoring the Taunton River watershed, its tributaries, wetlands, floodplains, river corridors and wildlife.

For years, TRWA has been a voice for the river, an advocate for environmental protection, sustainable development and responsible stewardship of our precious water resources.

With a corps of dedicated volunteers, TRWA helps protect our watershed through education and awareness programs, public policy advocacy, campaigns, water quality monitoring and citizen action.

Weir River Watershed Association

Flows Into: Boston Harbor

Samantha Woods, President
Phone: 781-659-8168
Mail: PO Box 1112, Hull, MA 02045
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Website: www.weirriver.org

The Weir River Watershed Association (WRWA) is a 501(3)c nonprofit group committed to promoting awareness and stewardship of the Weir River Watershed.

  Our goals are to:

• Gather data on the Watershed’s condition using monitoring programs.
• Design and carry out local projects to maintain and improve the water quality, beauty, and enjoyment of the Weir River Watershed.
• Report findings on the condition of the Weir River Watershed to the public, governmental committees, and other agencies.
• Build a partnership of schools, community groups, businesses, and all levels of government entities who are committed to maintaining the Weir River Watershed as a necessary and beautiful resource.

Westport River Watershed Alliance

Flows Into: Buzzards Bay and Narragansett Bay

Deborah Weaver, Executive Director
Office: 508-636-3016
Mail: PO Box 3427, Westport, MA 02790
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Website: www.westportwatershed.org

Mission: To restore, protect, celebrate, and sustain the natural resources of the Westport River and its watershed. Our goals are:

• To promote the environmental integrity of the watershed and its coastal environs.
• To advocate the wise use and preservation of natural resources in the watershed for the aesthetic, recreational, and economic benefit of the citizens of the area.
• To educate the general public about the interrelationship of our waters, soils, plants, animals, and people.