Auburn University teams with stakeholder groups to share information about Alabama’s water management plan

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 
Contact:
Cindy Lowry or Mitch Reid
205-322-6395
clowry@alabamarivers.org or mreid@alabamarivers.org
 
 
AUBURN, Ala. Last Friday, over 100 participants from across Alabama crowded into a packed auditorium at Auburn University’s Comer Hall to attend a symposium on the formation of a comprehensive water management plan for Alabama. Mitch Reid, program director for the Alabama Rivers Alliance, began the day by discussing the environmental needs for water management policy. 
 
“We have a lot of water in Alabama, but this environment was designed for that amount of water and we have built industries based on that amount of water,” stated Reid.  “Our challenge is to keep this water flowing for future generations.” 
 
Alabama is the only state among its neighbors that does not have such a plan, and in April of 2012, Governor Robert Bentley directed the Alabama Water Agencies Working Group (AWAWG), made up of the five state agencies with responsibility over the State’s water resources, to recommend a plan for the state.
 
The Alabama Rivers Alliance, which has long advocated the development of such a plan, is working with partners across the state to host symposia to gather stakeholder input. There have already been symposia in Birmingham and Mobile, and the next symposium will be in Huntsville on June 28, 2013.
 

Each symposium concentrates on a specific water management theme. The Auburn Symposium, co-sponsored by Auburn University Water Resources Center, Alabama Water Watch, and the Alabama Cooperative Extension System, focused on the importance of science-based information to be used in the formation of Alabama’s water management plan. Auburn University faculty presented about how recent Auburn University water-based research projects can guide the development of Alabama’s plan. The research is compiled in a new publication titled Auburn Speaks On Water.

Representatives of all five state agencies making up the AWAWG were present. AWAWG chair, Bennett Bearden, Assistant Attorney General for the Geologic Survey of Alabama, explained the myriad problems facing our state and how the current legal system does not work to protect water users.  He also announced that the Geologic Survey of Alabama and the Office of Water Resources were given funding in the 2013 budget to do water assessments.  According to Bearden, the is the first time in the State’s history that state agencies have been given funding specifically to gather data for the development of a water management plan.  Questions including, “what will be given to the Governor in December?” and “how will a water plan be implemented and enforced?” led to robust conversation throughout the day. 
 
Symposium participants also heard from Jim Giattina, the director of the EPA’s Region 4 Water Management Division about the importance of water flow to the state’s water quality.  “Any state water management plan must comply with the Clean Water Act,” Giattina declared. However, he made it clear that his office considered water management to be a State responsibility.  He also made it clear that more reservoirs are not the answer to water management.  According to Giattina, stream alterations such as dams are one of the leading causes of water quality problems for rivers and streams in the Southeast.
 
A diverse group of stakeholders ranging from representatives of Alabama Power Company and ALFA to Auburn County Commissioners to concerned citizens were present to ask questions and learn about the state’s progress toward developing a water management plan.
 
Participants were repeatedly encouraged to provide their comments and feedback to the AWAWG by emailing them towater@adeca.alabama.gov.  They will be taking stakeholder input ongoing throughout the entire process until their deadline of December 1, 2013. 
 
“We were very pleased with the turnout and the level of engagement of Auburn University in hosting this meeting,” stated Cindy Lowry, executive director of the Alabama Rivers Alliance.
 
“The Governor has clearly asked the state agencies for recommendations for a comprehensive water management plan as well as recommendations for legislation to implement the plan,” Lowry explained. “It is understandable that they are feeling the weight on their shoulders, but the people, the economy, and the environment of Alabama are depending on this process to ensure secure water supplies for future generations.”
 

# # #

 
About the Alabama Rivers Alliance
The Alabama Rivers Alliance is a network of river and water-centered organizations from around Alabama, the statewide organization working to defend and restore Alabama’s rivers by advocating for smart water policy, organizing at the grassroots level, and teaching citizens how they can protect their water with in order to achieve healthy rivers, healthy people, and a healthy system of government for the state of Alabama.  Please visit www.alabamarivers.org for more information.

 

Alabama’s river advocates celebrate 40th anniversary of Clean Water Act

PRESS RELEASE

For More Information:

Adam Johnston                                     Mark Berte
Alabama Rivers Alliance                       Alabama Coastal Foundation
205-322-6395                                     251-402-3936
ajohnston@alabamarivers.org               mberte@joinacf.org

Groups will toast landmark environmental legislation, raising a glass to clean water

Birmingham, Ala. October 18, 2012 marks the 40^th anniversary of the Clean Water Act, America’s primary federal law protecting its waterways from pollution. Two of Alabama’s statewide water protection organizations, Alabama Coastal Foundation and Alabama Rivers Alliance, along with a diverse group of their partner organizations, will host a celebration to toast this landmark legislation and the positive effects that it has had on rivers in Alabama and the rest of the United States.

The celebration will include live music from the Oxymorons and fresh seafood from the Fish Market Restaurant. Beverages on hand for toasting will be local beer from Good People Brewing Company, organic wine from JohnnyGreenSeeds Wines, and clean, fresh drinking water. Participants can purchase tickets for only $10.

“This bedrock law is a shining example of successful, balanced regulation,” said Cindy Lowry, executive director of the Alabama Rivers Alliance. “It has not inhibited growth, yet has protected and restored our vital water resources for 40 years. I’m proud to celebrate this milestone anniversary with the groups and citizens who have worked tirelessly to ensure the clean water act continues to work in Alabama protecting our rivers and our communities.”

“We are very excited to be in Birmingham to celebrate with others in the state on this special occasion,” said Mark Berte, executive director of the Alabama Coastal Foundation. “The Clean Water Act is an important law, and this anniversary is a great time to look at how far our waterways have come and also how much farther we have to go in keeping them protected.”

Since the Clean Water Act’s passage in 1972, pollution in river systems from sources like sewage treatment plants and industrial facilities has been dramatically reduced.  In 1970, point-source contaminants accounted for 85% of the pollutants in our waters, and today account for only 15%. The rate of wetland loss has declined by 90% since the 1970’s. However, many challenges still remain. When the act was passed, its goal was to render 100% of the nation’s waters “fishable and swimmable” over the next thirteen years. Today, forty years later, nearly half of all rivers, lakes, and streams are still not clean enough for those uses.

“This is why Alabama’s river community is so critical,” said Adam Johnston, grassroots organizer for the Alabama Rivers Alliance. “That’s why we’re so proud to come together in celebration of this important law that protects our waterways.”

Other organizations partnering in this celebration include the Alabama Environmental Council, Black Warrior Riverkeeper, Cahaba Riverkeeper, Cahaba River Society, Coosa Riverkeeper, GASP, League of Women Voters, The Nature Conservancy of Alabama and the Southern Environmental Law Center.

Event Details:

Date and Time: Doors open at 5:30pm
Location Address:  Birmingham Botanical Gardens, 2612 Lane Park Road, Birmingham, AL
Ticket Prices: $10 for dinner and two beverages
For ticket purchase: www.joinACF.org

About the Alabama Coastal Foundation
Founded in 1993, the Alabama Coastal Foundation is a non-partisan non-profit membership organization with a mission to improve and protect Alabama’s coastal environment through cooperation, education and participation. We accomplish this mission by providing factual information, promoting dialogue and advocating action.
www.joinacf.org

About the Alabama Rivers Alliance
The Alabama Rivers Alliance is Alabama’s statewide, nonprofit, river protection organization working to protect Alabama’s rivers through water quality and quantity policy advocacy, grassroots organizing, and the providing of information to citizens in order to achieve clean and healthy watershed ecosystems, healthy people, strong economies, and a functioning democratic system of government in Alabama.
www.alabamarivers.org

EPA Releases Fact Sheet on the Economic Benefits of Protecting Healthy Watersheds

EPA has released a new fact sheet as part of its Healthy Watersheds initiative describing the economic benefits of protecting healthy watersheds by highlighting examples from existing peer-reviewed literature and studies. EPA’s Healthy Watersheds Initiative is intended to protect the Nation’s remaining healthy watersheds, prevent them from becoming impaired, and accelerate restoration successes. It encourages interested states to take a strategic, systems approach to protecting healthy watersheds that recognizes the dynamic and interconnected nature of aquatic ecosystems.  

 

The fact sheet describes studies that demonstrate protecting healthy watersheds can reduce capital costs for water treatment plants and reduce damages to property and infrastructure due to flooding, thereby avoiding future costs.  Additionally, examples in the fact sheet show that protecting healthy watersheds can generate revenue through property value premiums, recreation, and tourism. This fact sheet directs readers to important resources to learn more about the substantial efforts to monetize ecosystem services from across the country.  This fact sheet is also a resource for those doing outreach to promote the protection of healthy watersheds.  The fact sheet is available at:  http://www.epa.gov/healthywatersheds.

What’s new with water policy?

This spring, Alabama Rivers Alliance has worked around the clock to produce a comprehensive water plan for our state.  Since the 2007 drought, Mitch Reid and Alabama Rivers Alliance have sought to create a water management plan for Alabama.  Much effort has been done in the last year and especially this spring to build such a plan.

On April 18, the Joint Permanent Committee on Water Policy and Management held a meeting in Montgomery, where Alabama Rivers Alliance’s Mitch Reid introduced HB 674 and spoke to the committee on the need for a statewide comprehensive water plan. HB 674, the Alabama Water Sustainability and Security Act, would require the Alabama Office of Water Resources to develop a comprehensive water management plan, in partnership with other relevant state agencies and with broad stakeholder input. The meeting was well attended including members of state agencies and supporters of Alabama Rivers Alliance.  The same day Governor Bentley sent a letter to our state agencies that govern water (OWR, ADEM, GSA, DCNR) addressing the need to continue to work together with all stakeholders to recommend a statewide water management plan by Dec 1, 2013.

The timing of this bill and movement could not be more urgent. With Atlanta’s inexhaustible expansion, Georgia’s water demands continue to grow. With our state’s well-documented conflict over water with Georgia and other states, the need for updated water policy in Alabama is NOW!

Currently the Alabama Rivers Alliance is working with the Governor’s task force to identify and reach out to and educate the various stakeholders and interest groups who should play a part in developing the statewide water management plan. We are also working to ensure that meaningful and enforceable environmental protections are included in an water management regime that the state adopts.  We will also be working with the members of the Water Committee to move forward with legislation that will set the foundation for this Water Plan by framing the parameters of the plan and providing the necessary legal foundations for it.

Additionally, Mitch Reid has been communicating with water managers from across the country to build a knowledge base of plans that have been successful in other states.  He has presented at both the River Management Society’s symposium in Asheville, North Carolina, and at the National River Rally in Portland, Oregon where he gained valuable feedback and insight on how to protect our rivers and water resources through sustainable water management.

For more information, click here to read Executive Director Cindy Lowry’s OpEd about the need for water policy in our state.

Friends of the Locust Fork Rafting Trip

On April 14th, the Alabama Rivers Alliance  joined Friends of the Locust Fork River  to float the Blount County section of the Locust from Kings Bend to Swann Bridge.  It was a beautiful day and nearly 20 people from Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi joined together with the active members of Friends of the Locust Fork River to paddle this amazing fork of the Black Warrior.

Check out our pics of the day!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Thirst

Thirst (verb)

• to feel a need to drink
• to have a strong desire for something