MA Appeals Court Defends Common-Sense Outdoor Watering Restrictions During Droughts (Press Release)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 31, 2025
Contact: Stefan Geller, Senior Communications Manager
Email: sgeller@crwa.org

BOSTON, MA –– The Massachusetts Appeals Court issued a ruling today that will allow state regulators to continue limiting non-essential outdoor watering during periods of drought, a critical tool to protect rivers and streams from running dry. 

“Water is life – literally,” said Emily Norton, executive director of Charles River Watershed Association. “In recent years, droughts have caused areas of our rivers across the state to run bone dry, devastating fish, amphibians, reptiles and macro-invertebrate populations. The lower court recognized the absolute necessity of common-sense water conservation measures to protect human and nonhuman life alike and we are pleased that the Appeals Court upheld that ruling.”

Today’s ruling comes after registered water suppliers appealed a 2023 lower court ruling, which upheld the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection’s (MassDEP) authority under the state Water Management Act to restrict non-business-related lawn watering during times of declared drought. 

Prior to the enactment of these common-sense regulations, the plaintiffs in the case were free to set their own restrictions during declared droughts—or to do nothing at all. 

While MassDEP has always been able to require these types of conservation measures from water suppliers that obtain permits from the agency, registered water suppliers—those whose approvals to withdraw water pre-date the current law—have asserted that their withdrawals were exempt from such regulation.

Today the Court rejected those claims, agreeing with arguments made by CRWA and MassDEP, and upholding the lower court’s decision that these conditions are necessary to ensure the equitable and sustainable management of water resources in Massachusetts. 

Inherent inequity would result if some water users were allowed to continue using as much water as they wanted for non-essential purposes during droughts while others were forced to conserve. As the Court noted, this “would directly contradict the act’s purpose to manage and conserve water use so as to plan for future water needs, protect the natural environment of the water, and ensure an adequate volume and quality of water for all citizens of the Commonwealth, both present and future.”

“The Appeals Court got this exactly right, recognizing the broad authority that MassDEP has to carry out the purpose of the Water Management Act: to manage water use and conservation for all of the Commonwealth,” said Harley Racer of the law firm Rich May, P.C., who represented CRWA in the case. “With this published decision, MassDEP is better empowered to meaningfully respond to the effects that the changing climate will have on water resources and habitats in Massachusetts.”

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Charles River Watershed Association’s mission is to protect, restore, and enhance the Charles River and its watershed through science, advocacy, and the law. CRWA develops science-based strategies to increase resilience, protect public health, and promote environmental equity as we confront a changing climate.