Chattahoochee Riverkeeper (CRK) -- formerly known as Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper (UCR) -- is an environmental advocacy organization with 10,000 members dedicated solely to protecting and restoring the

Chattahoochee River The Chattahoochee River forms the southern half of the Alabama and Georgia border, as well as a portion of the Florida - Georgia border. It is a tributary of the Apalachicola River, a relatively short river formed by the confluence of the Chatta ...

Basin. CRK was modeled after New York’s Hudson

Riverkeeper Riverkeeper is a non-profit environmental organization dedicated to the protection of the Hudson River and its tributaries, as well as the watersheds that provide New York City with its drinking water. It started out as the Hudson River Fisherman' ...

and was the 11th licensed program in the international

Waterkeeper Alliance Waterkeeper Alliance is a worldwide network of environmental organizations founded in 1999 in response to a growing movement of organizations with such names as Riverkeeper, Baykeeper and Soundkeeper. By December 2019, the group said it had gro ...

. In 2012, the organization officially changed its name to simply Chattahoochee Riverkeeper (CRK), dropping the "Upper" to better reflect its stewardship over the entire river basin. CRK’s primary geographic focus begins at the river's headwaters in the north

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

mountains above

Helen Helen may refer to: People * Helen of Troy, in Greek mythology, the most beautiful woman in the world * Helen (actress) (born 1938), Indian actress * Helen (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name) Places * Helen, ...

and continues downstream to

West Point Lake West Point Lake is a man-made reservoir located mostly in west-central Georgia on the Chattahoochee River and maintained by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). The Chattahoochee river flows in from the north, before flowing through the West ...

, encompassing more than 200 miles (320 km) of the

and 3,600 square miles (9,300 km²) of watershed. The Chattahoochee River meets the

Flint River The Flint River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 15, 2011 river in the U.S. state of Georgia. The river drains of western Georgia, flowing south from the u ...

above

Lake Seminole Lake Seminole is a reservoir located in the southwest corner of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia along its border with Florida, maintained by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The Chattahoochee River, Chattahoochee and Flint River (Georgia), Flint ri ...

to become the

Apalachicola River The Apalachicola River is a river, approximately 160 mi (180 km) long in the state of Florida. The river's large watershed, known as the ACF River Basin, drains an area of approximately into the Gulf of Mexico. The distance to its fa ...

in Florida. CRK is best known for its legal action against the

City of Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

which resulted in the city revitalizing their infrastructure to address a major sewage problem, thus ensuring a cleaner river for the community. CRK "actively uses advocacy, education, research, communication, cooperation, monitoring and legal actions to protect and preserve the Chattahoochee and its watershed."

History

Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper was founded in 1994 by Laura Turner Seydel and Rutherford Seydel. Modeling the Chattahoochee program after New York's aggressive and successful Hudson Riverkeeper, they sought to create a focused environmental advocacy initiative led by professional staff and committed volunteers. With funding from the Turner Foundation and other local supporters, UCR officially opened its doors for business on March 1, 1994. Since 1994, a dedicated and diverse board of directors has guided the organization in its transformation from a scrappy group of paddlers, scientists, anglers and environmental activists to a respected organization that has won many victories for the Chattahoochee River Basin. Since its founding, Sally Bethea has served as Executive Director and Riverkeeper. The group changed its name to Chattahoochee Riverkeeper in 2012. After 20 years of running the organization, Sally Bethea retired at the end of 2014. The organization had grown substantially since its founding, and, as a result, CRK divided Bethea’s role into two separate positions: riverkeeper and executive director. The role of riverkeeper was filled by longtime staff member Jason Ulseth, and CRK’s general counsel, Juliet Cohen, became the new executive director. In 2015, the non-profit won a $10 million

Clean Water Act The Clean Water Act (CWA) is the primary federal law in the United States governing water pollution. Its objective is to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the nation's waters; recognizing the responsibiliti ...

settlement: one of the largest in Georgia's history. A U.S. District Court Judge ordered American Seal Coat LLC. to pay for damages inflicted when the manufacturer dumped pollutants into a tributary of the Chattahoochee in violation of permits.

Current work

Chattahoochee Riverkeeper actively works to protect and preserve the

Chattahoochee The Chattahoochee River forms the southern half of the Alabama and Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia border, as well as a portion of the Florida - Georgia border. It is a tributary of the Apalachicola River, a relatively short river formed by the con ...

watershed through legal work, policy work, technical programs, communication, education, and recreational activities.

Legal Work

Legal work includes working with legislators to strengthen regulatory protections for waterways, lobbying to protect water resources, and pursuing legal action when necessary to ensure that the laws that protect drinking water supply are properly enforced. In 2015 the organization won a $10 million dollar settlement against a polluting business for violations of the

. CRK also "reviews

Environmental Protection Division A biophysical environment is a biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism or population, and consequently includes the factors that have an influence in their survival, development, and evolution. A biophysical environment can vary in scale f ...

files and Discharge Monitoring Reports for problem facilities, and when identified, will develop strategies for compliance."

Policy Work

In policy, CRK promotes

water conservation Water conservation includes all the policies, strategies and activities to sustainably manage the natural resource of fresh water, to protect the hydrosphere, and to meet the current and future human demand (thus avoiding water scarcity). Populati ...

and advocates for

water efficiency Water efficiency is the practice of reducing water consumption by measuring the amount of water required for a particular purpose and is proportionate to the amount of essential water used.Vickers, Amy. “Water use and conservation." Amherst, MA ...

measures, protection of our water supply at all levels of government, and effective and wise water planning for the watershed region. With regard to ongoing Tri-State issues, CRK addresses the conflict over water sharing and offers practical sustainable solutions.

Technical Programs

The technical programs include patrolling the watershed’s rivers and lakes, responding to citizen hotline calls and other reported problems, and monitoring

water quality Water quality refers to the chemical, physical, and biological characteristics of water based on the standards of its usage. It is most frequently used by reference to a set of standards against which compliance, generally achieved through tr ...

. CRK's Neighborhood Water Watch program works to assess and improve urban water quality for communities around the Chattahoochee. Community groups, citizens, and students gather water samples from local tributaries and deliver them to CRK

conductivity Conductivity may refer to: *Electrical conductivity, a measure of a material's ability to conduct an electric current **Conductivity (electrolytic), the electrical conductivity of an electrolyte in solution **Ionic conductivity (solid state), elec ...

turbidity Turbidity is the cloudiness or haziness of a fluid caused by large numbers of individual particles that are generally invisible to the naked eye, similar to smoke in air. The measurement of turbidity is a key test of water quality. Fluids can ...

, and ''E. coli'' testing.

Education

Newsletters, sent two times a year, and bi-weekly electronic news flashes keep citizens in the loop on water issues and events. Education and training includes teaching children, citizens, business people, and policy-makers how to protect the Chattahoochee. CRK educates thousands of children each year onboard floating classrooms on

Lake Lanier Lake Lanier (officially Lake Sidney Lanier) is a reservoir in the northern portion of the U.S. state of Georgia. It was created by the completion of Buford Dam on the Chattahoochee River in 1956, and is also fed by the waters of the Chestatee Ri ...

and

to learn about

and river stewardship.

Recreation

Recreational activities promote responsible appreciation of the Chattahoochee through kayak and canoe trips, river races, and other activities.

Locations

Additional offices in Gainesville and LaGrange provide education, enforcement and partnership to citizens and groups in the

headwaters The headwaters of a river or stream is the farthest place in that river or stream from its estuary or downstream confluence with another river, as measured along the course of the river. It is also known as a river's source. Definition The ...

and the southern regions of the Upper Chattahoochee area.

References

Founder's Statement
Chattahoochee Riverkeeper. Aug 15, 2011.
About
Chattahoochee Riverkeeper. Aug 13, 2019.
Fact Sheet
Chattahoochee Riverkeeper. Aug 15, 2011.

External links

CRK Website
{{Authority control Chattahoochee River Water organizations in the United States Environmental organizations based in Georgia (U.S. state) de:Chattahoochee River