Above Ipswich River’s Executive Director Wayne Castonguay and Senator Bruce Tarr are long time allies in improving the future of water management in our region. Together on the North Shore Water Supply Resiliency Task Force, Wayne and Senator Tarr will be exploring alternate sources of water to relieve the strain on the Ipswich River.
All hands are on deck to make 2022 the year to take the Ipswich River off the endangered list once and for all! The new year is starting strong on the advocacy front. On Monday January 10th, the Town of Hamilton and the Ipswich River Watershed Association’s joint grant proposal to the MA Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) was approved. The project will conduct an evaluation of alternative water sources to improve water supply resiliency in the lower Ipswich River watershed. Through the study, we will work closely with Hamilton, Ipswich, Wenham, Topsfield, Manchester, and Essex as well as the Salem-Beverly Water Supply Board.
One of the primary outcomes of the project is to identify feasible alternatives that would reduce the summertime groundwater withdrawals and their impact on the River. This project will work in tandem with another study being spearheaded by the North Shore Water Supply Resiliency Task Force led by Senator Tarr. The task force study will explore alternative sources of water for the region, which could then be utilized by communities currently dependent on Ipswich River water.
The combined efforts of the two projects are primary goals of the #EndangeredIpswich Campaign. With completion of both scheduled for June 30, 2022 the campaign to take the river off the endangered list is on the fast track! In other advocacy news, we’ve been meeting regularly with our state and federal legislative delegations to steer stimulus and infrastructure funding to our communities. These funds could help implement the solutions to the River’s problems and several members of both delegations have made commitments to solve the Endangered Ipswich problem. We are also moving forward with state officials on policy changes that would improve implementation of the water management program. These changes to the state’s unfair and antiquated water allocation system are long overdue. With the successful public hearing in October 2021 behind us, we are working with our regional advocacy partners to advance the Drought Bill. The bill is another key component of the #EndangeredIpswich campaign, and if reported favorably out of committee it will be taken up for a vote by the full legislature. If you are interested in receiving Advocacy Alerts, please email [email protected] with the subject line “River Advocacy”.