CRWA's mission is to use science, advocacy and the law to protect, preserve and enhance the Charles River and its watershed.

Description:
The Charles River Watershed Association (CRWA) is a non-profit environmental organization founded in 1965 to stem the years of pollution in the Charles River and protect and restore the river’s watershed. Prior to CRWA the Charles was clogged with unregulated dumping of household and industrial wastes and challenged by antiquated water engineering. Exposure to the river necessitated a Tetanus vaccination. Today, due in large part to the efforts of CRWA in improving water quality, thousands of people are enjoying its vast parklands and recreating on the river. Many parkland restoration groups and other watershed organization have emerged due to CRWA’s ground breaking environmental and advocacy work.

CRWA goes beyond the parklands and river surface. We seek scientific solutions, fight for legal remedies and groom river advocacy through education to tackle a myriad of issues. Our work encompasses:
preventing pollution from entering the river;
protecting water quantity and quality;
preserving and monitoring the natural habitat and
insuring environmentally sound government policies

In the early sixties, CRWA convinced the Army Corp of Engineers to preserve acres of wetlands in lieu of building levees – a solution that has spared residents flooding all these years. In campaigning for the majestic Zakim Bridge, CRWA helped scrap scheme-z, a mulit-lane highway – the bridge improved traffic flow, reduced river impact and heightens Boston’s aesthetic standards. While these projects are visible, much of the work of CRWA is behind the scenes. Scientists are spending their time on analyzing water quantity, instigating proactive water budgeting, measuring current and future water use and demands, preventing illegal groundwater withdrawals and constantly monitoring and solving problems associated with pollution caused by storm water runoff and other contaminants.

The hallmark of CRWA is our ability to form teams with various stakeholders, so together we can discover solutions that benefit everyone. CRWA city planners and hydrologists have offered viable low impact designs to Harvard University in planning its growth into Allston and along the Charles River. And we are doing similar hydrology planning in Somerville/Cambridge/Boston north of the Zakim Bridge. Due to the environmental expertise of our legal counsel and scientists, legislative decision makers often turn to CRWA for advise. Yet, when legal remediation is required, CRWA takes action. Water withdrawal policies affect all watersheds, so CRWA’s legal counsel along with the Conservation Law Foundation fought on behalf of the Ipswich River watershed since the river becomes a bike path each summer. This recent legal victory succeeded in strengthening water withdrawal regulations. Just as essential to the complex science and law used to defend the river, CRWA’s interface with the general public and conservation and engineering community builds better understanding of our work and more grassroots support. CRWA holds conferences, informs thousands through calls to action and an email and printed newsletter, and holds community engagement events throughout the year.

For ten years CRWA trained volunteers collect water samples on a monthly basis along the entire river, resulting in valuable data in tracking sources of pollution. And thousands flock to the CRWA flatboat race The Run of the Charles, and CRWA’s Earth Day Charles River Clean-up each year.

History:
One of the country's first watershed organizations, Charles River Watershed Association (CRWA) was formed in 1965 in response to public concern about the declining condition of the Charles. Since its earliest days of advocacy, CRWA has figured prominently in major clean-up and watershed protection efforts, working with government officials and citizen groups from 35 Massachusetts watershed towns from Hopkinton to Boston. Initiatives over the last three decades have dramatically improved the quality of water in the watershed and approaches to water resource management.

Contact people:

Rebecca Scibek Wickham, Ms., (phone), (email) Pallavi Mande, Ms., (phone), (email)

Address:

190 Park Drive Weston, MA 02493 (See a map)

Directions:

Nearest Metro/Subway Stop: Riverside,   Walk distance (in minutes): 25 For maps or information, please see http://www.mbta.com