§ 8B — Chairman; duties of commission

Section 8B. The secretary shall be chairman of said commission. The responsibilities and duties of said commission shall include:—(a) development of a water resources management policy framework within which the water resource policies, plans and management programs of the several agencies and departments under the secretary shall function;(b) coordination of water resources planning and management functions among the several agencies and departments under the secretary;(c) review and comment on all policies brought before the commission;(d) annual review and comment on all programs relating to water resource management of the several agencies and departments under the secretary;(e) establishment of criteria and priorities for all water resource-related cooperative programs with the federal government, with any other state, or with any executive office, department, or division of the commonwealth;(f) development and periodic updating of comprehensive water resource management plans for river basins, giving consideration to regional and statewide needs and to integration of waste-water management into water resource planning;(g) development of water allocation criteria which takes into account demographic, hydrologic, and environmental characteristics;(h) development of a management information system and data processing capability for the central collection, storage and retrieval of water resource management information. Further, the commission may be responsible for dissemination of said information to the several agencies and departments under the secretary, to other state agencies and to the public on request. A fee may be charged for retrieval of information from said system.(i) development of an education program which encouraged broad public participation at both municipal and regional levels, with emphasis on encouragement of long term water resource and wastewater planning and management by municipalities and by regional planning agencies.