ANNUAL APPEAL/BLUE COMMUNITIES CAMPAIGN

 

PLEASE GIVE TO OUR ANNUAL APPEAL &

SUPPORT THE BLUE COMMUNITIES CAMPAIGN

 

 

In honor of the NSRWA's 40th birthday last year, the NSRWA launched our three-year 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.

What are these threats?

Why is the NSRWA uniquely positioned to address them?

What has been accomplished since we started the Blue Communities Campaign?

What are the priorities for 2012?

 

 

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

~  Mobilize volunteers to assess and prioritize stream restoration

~  Expand water testing to find the remaining pollution sources keeping the South River shellfishing beds closed

~ 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!

 

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.

 

Blue Communities Accomplishments 2011  - Our Second Year

• Reopened South River shellfish beds after 20 years
• Reached an unprecedented agreement with Scituate to increase summer water flows in 1st Herring Brook,    essential to restoring natural streamflows and herring runs
• Completed the first ever comprehensive inventory of dams, culverts, and other impediments to water flow in the rivers’ major tributaries
• Finalized protection of important land parcels abutting the North River
• Assisted Marshfield with the acquisition, financing and permitting of a new South River Park

 

Blue Community Campaign Priorities in 2012

• Cleaning-up additional identified “hot spots” of pollution sources to the South River to open shellfish beds year-round
• Restoring natural streamflows and fish passage in the First and Third Herring Brooks and other tributaries to the rivers.
• Expanding our 5th grade Water All Around You program
• Completing construction of Marshfield’s South River Park, and helping to celebrate its opening!