Katherine Baer
Senior Director, Clean Water and Water Supply Programs
Department: Conservation
Area of Focus: Katherine leads federal clean water policy work to reduce sewage spills and polluted stormwater runoff and to increase green infrastructure.
Background: Katherine joined American Rivers in 2005. Prior to that she worked as a policy analyst for the legal think tank the Center for Progressive Reform, and as Director of Headwaters Conservation for the Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper in Georgia.
Education: B.A. in Environmental Studies from Stanford University, M.S. in Conservation Ecology from the University of Georgia, and J.D. from the University of Maryland
Favorite River: Chattahoochee River
Blog Posts By This Author
Dirty Politics Spilling into Your Clean Water
November 14, 2011 | Water Pollution
Even as we’re set to celebrate clean water in anticipation of the 40th anniversary of the Clean Water Act, clean water is under attack.
Read more »Cities Go Green for Clean Water
October 18, 2011 | Water Pollution
In Milwaukee and around the country, cities are investing in sustainable water management approaches like green roofs to achieve clean water and create more livable communities.
Read more »Swimming in Slime Underscores Need for Smart Clean Water Protections
August 31, 2011 | Water Pollution, Climate Change, Stormwater & Sewage
Green slime covering up your local swimming hole? Seems that Senator Inhofe (R-OK) found his own Grand Lake covered in algae. After swimming in the muck, the Senator became really sick. Blue-green algae are known to cause respiratory illness, skin irritation and diarrhea and tend to flourish in times of drought when water is warm and polluted with excess nutrients. As droughts become more frequent and intense, we’re likely to see more of these algal blooms that plague our favorite swimming spots...
Read more »Clean Water and Livable Communities: New Report Shows How Communities Support Clean Water and Redevelopment
August 2, 2011 | Water Pollution, Climate Change, Floods & Floodplains
Where would you rather live – community A in vibrant, thriving area but one that is hot and floods every time it rains, or community B in a vibrant, thriving area that is cooled by trees and green roofs where pocket gardens and green streets soak up water to help reduce local floods and sewer overflows?
Read more »Securing Clean Drinking Water in an Uncertain Future
March 9, 2011 | Water Pollution, Floods & Floodplains, Climate Change, Water Supply, Stormwater & Sewage
Floods, droughts, and now cholera? While we know that climate change will increase the frequency and severity of extreme weather, scientists report that this increase in extreme stormwater could “set the stage for a return of cholera to North America.” Drinking water and sewage treatment plants are often the ones to bear the brunt of climate change as increased flooding overwhelms treatment plants and causes sewer overflows.
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