Last week, NSRWA submitted public comments on two important water quality issues. The first was related to Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection’s (MassDEP) triennial review process of the state’s Surface Water Quality Standards as required by the Clean Water Act. These Standards are an essential component of the Clean Water Act framework, and it is critical that the Standards establish the appropriate and adequately protective criteria necessary to safeguard the designated uses of waterbodies in Massachusetts. The benefits of better water quality are in everyone’s interest. The second was on the Massachusetts Draft Integrated List of Waters for the Clean Water Act 2024/2026. The federal Clean Water Act (CWA) requires states to submit reports on the status of their waterbodies every two years. These reports are called “Integrated Lists of Waters”. The CWA requires states to identify those waterbodies that are not expected to meet surface water quality standards and to prioritize and schedule them for the development of measures to improve their conditions.
While the Surface Water Quality Standards and the Integrated Lists of waters are required from the ‘top-down’ at US EPA, they very much have a ‘bottom-up’ component where groups like NSRWA contribute data and information about our local resources. This data is then incorporated into the listings. Like most regulatory processes, it is extremely important but can be somewhat confusing. We put together a short video that describes the process and how groups like NSRWA fit into it (video generated with Google’s NotebookLM). We hope you find the information in this video useful and a little more approachable.
Use the EPA tool to check the waterways in your neighborhood. How’s My Waterway?