North and South Rivers Watershed Association

CONTACT:

214 South Street PO Box 43
Norwell, MA 02061
781-659-8168
www.nsrwa.org

Samantha Woods, Executive Director

DESCRIPTION:

NSRWA was founded in 1970 to protect and maintain the North and South Rivers in southeastern Massachusetts. For years a volunteer group meeting in living rooms and church basements, NSRWA has become an effective advocacy group of nearly 1,500 interested persons, planning to grow to 2,000, and arguably the most influential advocacy organization in its part of the State. In the mid '70s it succeeded in having the North River, one of the most spectacularly beautiful tidal rivers in the Commonwealth, designated officially as a "scenic protected river;" it then led the effort to create a North River Commission, which controls all activity within 300 feet of the river. It is seeking similar improvements for the South River, has been involved in the closure of the Weymouth Naval Air Base (home of the North River's headwaters), prevented the MBTA from placing a six-track layover station along the North River, has assisted communities within the watershed in adopting the Community Preservation Act to aquire open space, and is monitoring water quality issues throughout the South Shore.

(1999: NATURE: Environment: Land, Air, Water, Climate)