This puts the Charles River and all who call it home in danger – droughts destroy important wildlife habitats, degrade water quality, and put drinking water sources at risk for communities who rely on well water. Yet, when drought hits, it's up to individual communities in Massachusetts to implement water conservation requirements, resulting in an ineffective, patchwork response to a major issue.

An Act relative to maintaining adequate water supplies through effective drought management (H. 1003 | S. 586) – refiled by Rep. Joan Meschino and Rep. Dave Rogers in the House, and by Sen. James Eldridge in the Senate – empowers the state to address drought at a regional scale, authorizing the Drought Management Task Force to declare drought severity and determine appropriate water conservation measures.

This bill is currently before the Joint Committee on Environment and Natural Resources and needs their support to move through the legislative process, so ask the committee members to report H. 1003 and S. 586 favorably out of committee.