Bill Golden, Awardee of the 2024 Anne M Blackburn Award | CRWA's 58th Annual Meeting

The Anne M Blackburn Award is CRWA's premier lifetime achievement award, which we bestow on those who have done extraordinary things for the Charles River. Its 2024 recipient is Bill Golden.
While a city solicitor for Quincy, Bill's work 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. And that’s not all Bill has done. Upon graduation from Yale, Bill was recruited by the White House, where he was a member of a small team that drafted and ushered through Congress the enabling laws that created the US EPA and NOAA to address the growing environmental crisis. Back in Massachusetts, as a three-term State Senator, Bill co-authored many bills related to environmental protection and energy conservation, including his legislation that created the UMass Urban Harbors Institute. Now, as the manager of the Boston Harbor Storm Surge Working Group, he is focused on saving the Metropolitan Boston area from the existential threat of coastal inundation from rising sea levels, stormwater, and storm surge.
There would be no Boston Harbor Cleanup and there would be no cleaner Charles River were it not for Bill Golden.