What's new at Mass Rivers?

Please take 5 minutes to send two emails asking your state legislators to vote in favor of amendments supporting healthy rivers and water.

At the beginning of January the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection released updates to the Massachusetts Surface Water Quality Standards (SWQS) and the Massachusetts 2024/2026 Integrated List of Waters for public comment. The updates included the removal of the lowest water quality classification for waterbodies (Class C), as all of the waterbodies in Massachusetts have now exceeded that threshold.

if you’re wondering, “what can I do about it?” here are three tangible things you can do to help our rivers, the environment generally, and human and wildlife health here in Massachusetts.

We need your help! We're pursuing the Protect Water and Nature Initiative as a question on the November 2026 ballot. This week, the entire coalition begins the first phase of the Protect Water and Nature Initiative, and we need your help to collect over 100,000 signatures by mid-November.

On July 31, 2025 Massachusetts Appeals Court affirmed a lower court's decision that the state can legally require registered water users to restrict nonessential outdoor water use during droughts!

In this post we’ll explore Combined Sewer Overflows, or CSOs, and how they hurt waterways in certain areas of the state.

The Drought Bill is Mass Rivers' top priority for this legislative session and we need your help to get legislators to cosponsor the bill!

Learn about Mass Rivers' 2025-2026 Legislative Priorities for our advocacy to protect and restore rivers in Massachusetts.

Learn about the process behind drought declarations, the key decision-makers, and the factors they consider.