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New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission NEIWPCC

Research and Monitoring

The Commission funds or undertakes through its staff a program of research into, and monitoring of, water-related topics and indicators. A rigorous quality-assurance program renders this work reliable and broadly useful for policy makers and professionals.

Much of this work is funded by state and federal grants administered by NEIWPCC through placed-based programs such as the Narragansett Bay Estuary Program. In addition to monitoring and research, the commission funds environmental restoration.

Outreach and Education

The Commission achieves its public-education goals mostly through the work of its staff at place-based programs such as the Long Island Sound Study and the Lake Champlain Basin Program. These and other programs funded and staffed in part or in whole by NEIWPCC engage the public through nature walks, educational events, television broadcasts, Internet resources, stewardship programs and events, and permanent programs and exhibits.

Training, Support, and Advocacy

On another front, the Commission staff trains and, in some states, accredits thousands of wastewater-plant operators, providing workshops and multi-day training courses that are both popular and useful. The Commission is in the forefront of work to make the region’s water infrastructure more resilient to flooding and other extreme weather events and has hired staff members to help the City and the State of New York with permitting, inspections, and other issues related to the still-ongoing recovery from Hurricane Sandy.

Sandy recovery entails a “surge” of environmental experts over a period of years. However, permanent NEIWPCC staff members also work in state offices side by side with employees of many state environmental agencies in the region. These professionals provide critical technical and administrative support to state environmental and drinking-water programs.

Finally, NEIWPCC regularly answers the call to share its water expertise beyond the borders of its seven member states, for instance with its National Tanks Conference.

The leadership of NEIWPCC is outspoken on behalf of its member states at meetings with federal officials and in regional and national water associations.

The Commission’s work, distributed across the region and across many subject areas and institutions, is supported and unified by a small corps of administrative, human resources, and communications professionals, and by an abiding commitment to the health of water bodies and the future of the region and the planet.

New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission