BLUE COMMUNITIES CAMPAIGN

BE A PART OF NSRWA's AMBITIOUS 3-YEAR CAMPAIGN FOR THE RIVERS!

PLEASE SUPPORT OUR EFFORTS WITH A DONATION

 

BECOME A RIVER GUARDIAN

AND YOUR CONTRIBUTION IS MATCHED!

 

In honor of the NSRWA's 40th birthday, the NSRWA has launched our BLUE COMMUNITIES CAMPAIGN to ensure that the NSRWA has the funds to continue its successful protection of the watershed, particularly as the rivers face increasingly complex threats.

Our core goal in the BLUE COMMUNITIES CAMPAIGN is to ensure a healthy river systems that provides: beautiful scenery, safe boating, clean and open beaches, productive shellfish beds that are open year-round, and free runs of shad and herring.

To provide these benefits, our rivers must: be clean and pollution free, and flow in natural patterns, with fish passage restored and adequate minimum flows in summer and in drought conditions.

Three problems threaten our rivers:

A. Water demand is increasing. This reduces the volume and flow of our rivers. We must increase conservation to reduce water taken from our aquifers and streams. More ground water = more river water.

B. Paved surfaces are increasing. Paved surface runoff flushes pollutants directly into the rivers. This water is also prevented from recharging the aquifer. We must limit the construction of new paved surfaces and improve existing ones.

C. Over the years, structures have been erected along and in the rivers. These structures (culverts, dams, tide gates) impede fish runs and hurt the general health of the rivers. We must replace and upgrade these structures.

Adding to these problems are the effects of climate change, including droughts and floods, which lead to increased polluted runoff and changes in stream flows.

Our solutions to these problems are based on NSRWA's core strengths - Monitoring, Educating, Advocating

Monitoring

• Expand water testing to find the remaining pollution sources keeping the South River shellfishing beds closed
• Mobilize volunteers to assess and prioritize stream restoration opportunities for more than 65 dams and 400 culverts
• Increase monitoring of stream flow in tributaries to track in-stream habitat health

Educating

• Build upon our school science program to teach elemenatry school children about their local water cycle
• Educate people through our Greenscapes program about effective yard care techniques that minimize water consumption and pollution in order to combat water use that dobles in the summer

Advocating

• Work with towns to improve water quality and recharge through the use of "best management practices" such as rain gardens and porous asphalt, and help identify appropriate sites and funding sources
• Advocate to improve streamflow and upgrade infrastructure to improve fish passage in First Herring Brook
• Work to pass stormwater bylaws to control polluted runoff, based on our recent successful collaboration with Scituate to develop their stormwater bylaws.
• Continue working to protect land critical to our watershed's health, including the creation of a Greenway along the South River.

PLEASE HELP US CARRY OUT OUR BLUE COMMUNITIES CAMPAIGN!

 

 

Become a RIVER GUARDIAN, and your donation will be MATCHED IN FULL!

Generous supporters of the NSRWA have offered to match the full amount contributed by new members of our River Guardian Circle with dues or contributions totaling $500 or more.  Details on how to take advantage of the matching challenge follow.

NSRWA's new River Guardian Circle Challenge Fund

In order to jump-start the new River Guardian Circle and encourage NSRWA members to join the Circle with dues or contributions totaling $500 or more, or to increase their support if they are already at the $500 level, the Sheehan Family Foundation and an anonymous member, have joined to offer a $20,000 challenge fund.

 Using the total of each member's dues and contributions in 2008 as a baseline, the fund will match in full all NEW support of $500 or more. Thus, if a member's total support in 2008 was $250, and the member increased his or her support in 2009 to $500, the fund will match the entire $500. And if that member increased his or her support to $1,000, the fund would match the entire $1,000!

If the member's total dues and contributions in 2008 totaled $500 or over, the fund will match any INCREASE in that member's support. Thus, if the member's total support in 2008 was $500, and the member increased his or her support in 2009 to $2,500, the fund would match the amount of the increase, $2,000.