OP-ED: Mass. lawmakers must pass bill that leads to stronger, more equitable water bans
There are a lot of uncertainties in today’s world. Was "Dune: Part Two" any good? Is Timothée Chalamet a generational talent? Would you want to live in a desert world covered in sand?
Drought is bad. It’s bad for farmers, it’s bad for homeowners and it’s even bad for aquaphobes. I think that we can all agree on that.
This claim is particularly easy to assert because every living being needs water to survive. Even the folks that claim to only drink Diet Coke. Water, albeit carbonated, is the beverage’s first ingredient.
Checkmate.
Massachusetts, like the rest of the world, has grappled with a changing climate due to increased amounts of human-emitted greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere. Increasing atmospheric temperatures have caused an exponential acceleration of emergency drought declarations in the Commonwealth, most recently in 2000, 2016, 2020, and 2022.
Most water used in Massachusetts comes from two watersheds, the Quabbin and the Wachusett, which supply a combined 200 million gallons of water daily. These watersheds are becoming increasingly vulnerable to and affected by drought, especially as the effects of climate change increase. This is frightening for future generations that will most definitely be in need of water, or even Diet Coke.
For the past three legislative sessions, Massachusetts lawmakers have been working to pass legislation that would help adapt to this changing climate. An Act Relative to Maintaining Adequate Water Supplies Through Effective Drought Management (H.861/S.475) is the current iteration of a bill that would, if enacted, lead to stronger regulations on local watering bans. The bill would codify the current Drought Management Task Force and empower it to centralize drought responses that are currently inequitable. The bill would protect essential uses of water and ensure that all municipalities’ drought restrictions during emergency drought conditions are equal.
Current drought regulation in emergency situations depends on the community in which one lives. Although I was born and raised in Natick, my childhood home was near Dover, the next town over. Drought restrictions were slightly less stringent there. So, while our lawn was composed mostly of crabgrass, dandelions and dead brown patches, our neighbor’s front yard looked more akin to the fictional Emerald City than the black-and-white Kansas reality.
In my meetings with legislators in effort to support this bill, few had even heard of it, despite it being a proposal that has been floating around their committee for years. Their lack of knowledge on this, I believe, reflects the environment’s secondary or tertiary importance to these public officials. While Massachusetts lawmakers and elected officials of both parties tout strong support of environmental legislation, there is much more that needs to be done.
Climate change is bad, too. Although Massachusetts representatives make clear that this simple statement is the truth, they don’t seem to put too much effort into actually solving this concern. It becomes especially troubling, especially for a young person, when after countless climate strikes, endless data and a spattering of goals touting “2050” this and “2100” that, nothing tangible gets passed.
The fate of our future is in the hands of the present. If you're a Massachusetts resident, calling and writing to your representative is vital to moving this commonsense bill forward. Not only would civic action in support of the passage on H.861/S.475 promote more sustainable and equitable drought regulation, it would also get the ball rolling on green Massachusetts lawmaking.
Our environment, our future and ready access to water are not things that can be conveniently forgotten. We need to push harder to get our representatives to save the planet and protect us from the effects of climate change that are already harming people in Massachusetts and throughout the world. We need to urge our state legislators in both the House and Senate to vote favorably on the Drought Bill and get real change to occur.
So I ask, is sacrificing a neon green lawn, a few minutes on the phone or writing a letter to a representative worth it? Would it help push Massachusetts in the right direction? Who’s to say, but it might be the best we can do.
Clay Napurano (claynapurano@brandeis.edu), a lifelong Natick resident, is graduating this spring from Brandeis University, where he studied legal studies, history and environmental studies. He plans to attend law school this fall.
This article originally appeared on MetroWest Daily News: Brandeis student urges Mass. lawmakers to pass drought equity bill
