contact your legislator

Learn more about legislation we want to see in the State House

community climate funding

MyRWA is working with over a dozen regional watershed, economic development, and planning organizations across Massachusetts to increase the funding for the Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness (MVP) grant program to $100 million each year from about $30 million currently. MVP is the key program for communities to prepare for extreme weather.

Find out more or contact us directly to get involved.

rodenticide ban

One of the Mystic’s most beloved bald eagles, MK, died in March 2023 after eating an animal poisoned with rodenticide that prevents blood from clotting. “Second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides” (SGARs) are a leading cause of death for predators and scavengers of all sizes. Save Arlington Wildlife is leading the effort to ban these horrific chemicals.

Drought Bill

Our state laws do not yet recognize that droughts need to be managed at the watershed level. Instead, individual cities and towns decide when and whether to require water conservation measures. As climate change makes droughts more frequent and severe, we need to be able to strengthen and coordinate our efforts to prevent both our rivers and our communities from running out of water. We count on Mass Rivers Alliance for their leadership on this effort.

Combined Sewer Overflows

Around Greater Boston, our centuries-old stormwater systems release untreated sewage into the river and ocean when rainstorms get too intense, and climate change is making rainstorms consistently more intense (but less frequent — see Drought Bill). A bill introduced by Mystic River watershed Representative Dave Roberts and sponsored by many of our legislators would require that communities prevent frequent “Combined Sewer Overflow” releases (up to a rare storm expected to only take place every 25 years) by 2035. For more on CSOs, visit our CSO info page.

green budget

We are so grateful to the Environmental League of Massachusetts for every year researching and organizing an alternative “Green Budget” that shows the budget levels our state environmental agencies and funding programs should be at. Their efforts have led to consistent increases in these critical programs.

better bottle bill

One of our dreams is a Trash Free Mystic. We work with volunteers and municipalities to keep trash out of the Mystic River and its tributaries. Almost every cleanup we do, we find that single-use plastic bottles are one of the most common items found. The Better Bottle Bill would expand the kinds of bottles that are redeemable, keeping plastic and glass trash out of the river and other places it shouldn’t be. Thanks to MassPIRG for leading the effort on this.

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