Bill Golden to be Honored at Charles River Watershed Association Annual Meeting (PRESS RELEASE)
MARCH 25, 2024: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
BOSTON, MA –– Charles River Watershed Association (CRWA) is honoring former State Senator Bill Golden at the group’s 58th Annual Meeting on March 27. Mr. Golden is being awarded the Anne M. Blackburn Award, the group’s premier lifetime achievement award for individuals who have demonstrated dedication and leadership toward achieving a cleaner and healthier Charles River, its watershed, and our natural environment.
Bill Golden has served at every level of government, from the White House to the State House to City Hall. As White House staff, Mr. Golden assisted in the establishment of the US EPA and NOAA. As a three-term Massachusetts State Senator, Mr. Golden authored legislation that re-organized Massachusetts county government, created the Special Senate Committee on Long Range Policy Planning, established two Areas of Critical Environmental Concern, created the UMass Boston Urban Harbors Institute, and co-authored air, water, solid waste, indoor air pollution, water and energy conservation legislation.
Most impactfully for the Charles River, as City Solicitor for the City of Quincy, Mr. Golden filed the lawsuit that secured the first court-mandated clean-up schedule for Boston Harbor and the creation of the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA). Mr. Golden was famously going for a morning run in 1982 along Wollaston Beach in Quincy when he stepped in what turned out to be human waste. In his own words, “It was everything that was being released from the sewer pipes in Boston. I just got ticked off. I went to the mayor immediately with this stuff on my shoes and said we had to do something about it.”
Golden won that suit, which initiated a series of lawsuits that culminated in the creation of the MWRA, the construction of the Deer Island Treatment Plant, and an over 90 percent reduction in sewage discharges into the Charles River.
Emily Norton, Executive Director of CRWA, expressed her admiration for Bill Golden's contributions, stating, "Bill Golden kicked off the whole cleanup of the Harbor - and therefore the Charles - with his fateful decision to go running that morning along Wollaston Beach, and his willingness to take on state and federal governments on behalf of the people, who he believed deserve clean water and clean beaches. Everyone who lives or works in greater Boston owes Bill a debt of gratitude for his brave actions over forty years ago."
CRWA's 58th Annual Meeting, where Bill Golden will be honored, is open to the public and will commence with a reception at 6:00 pm in Cambridge. For further information or ticket purchases, please visit our 2024 annual meeting page.
