[2] Golden participated in the creation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority, the Urban Harbors Institute and Save the Harbor/Save the Bay.

[4] Peter Shelley of the Conservation Law Foundation wrote in a 2011 editorial that "no story about the Boston Harbor cleanup would be complete without mentioning Bill [William] Golden, then solicitor for the City of Quincy, whose fateful jog on the feces-strewn Wollaston Beach in 1982 made him mad as hell and got the whole ball rolling.

[6] The legislature created the new Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA) to manage Boston's drinking and wastewater.

[7][8] Since Golden's lawsuit against the MDC and the subsequent creation of the MWRA, Boston finally stopped pumping its sewage directly into the harbor, greatly improving the beach ecosystem and economy in the area.

[12] The website for the non-profit organization states that "NICHI is committed to building a broad national coalition of private and public interests to advocate for a national interstate coastal infrastructure system that integrates, enhances and funds local, regional and state coastal climate adaptation plans.