Protecting Rivers & Your Clean Water
April Showers Bring May...
Fay Augustyn, Conservation Associate
May 10, 2013 | Climate Change, Floods & Floodplains, Water Supply
Who doesn’t remember the little saying from our childhood, “April showers bring May flowers?” I sure do, but I’m not so sure that the next generation will. My spring memories are full of raincoats and galoshes followed by walking barefoot through flowerbeds full of blooming peonies, irises and roses. This spring however, had a less traditional weather path, with April and May chalk full of blizzards, floods, wildfires, and drought.
Read more »Growing Algal Blooms Pose Public Health Risks
Fay Augustyn, Conservation Associate
May 9, 2013 | Climate Change, Water Supply
As we all learned in school, the Great Lakes are an immense source of freshwater. In fact, they are the largest system of freshwater lakes in the entire world and contain nearly one-fifth of the fresh surface water found on earth. They provide drinking water to more than 40 million people, cover an area nearly the size of Oregon, and contain a wide variety of habitats, including wetlands, dunes, and forests, which are home to thousands of plant and animal species.
Read more »Our New Report on Restoring Healthy Flows in Georgia’s Upper Flint River
Ben Emanuel, Associate Director, Water Supply
April 30, 2013 | Most Endangered Rivers, Climate Change, Water Supply
April has been a busy month at American Rivers, with the release of our annual Most Endangered Rivers® list. As you may have noticed, many of the rivers spotlighted on this year’s list are there because of threats related to water quantity, which is increasingly a concern here in the Southeast. That’s the case for the Georgia’s Flint River, where low flows threaten the river’s health throughout its length from Atlanta to the Florida state line.
Read more »How Much Does Central Wisconsin Suck?
Jessie Thomas-Blate, Coordinator, Most Endangered Rivers
April 30, 2013 | Most Endangered Rivers, Water Supply
Plover is a quiet, beautiful town of about 12,000 people that was a great place to grow up as a kid. I remember swimming, canoeing, and exploring the wildlife of the Little Plover River during the endless days of summer vacations. In the 1980's, when I was 12 years old, everything seemed perfect. The A-Team was on television, the movie Top Gun had just been released, and I got to roast marshmallows down by the river on the weekends, listening to the frogs “ribbit” in the dark as my sister and I made s’mores.
Read more »Floods, Droughts and Agriculture
Fay Augustyn, Conservation Associate
April 29, 2013 | Climate Change, Water Supply
Agriculture is part of the bedrock of American life. It provides food for our tables, jobs for our citizens, and it supports a significant chunk of our economy. U.S. agricultural exports alone generate more than $100 billion annually in business activity in the U.S., and provide jobs for nearly one million workers.
Read more »The Story of the San Saba River
Jessie Thomas-Blate, Coordinator, Most Endangered Rivers
April 23, 2013 | Most Endangered Rivers, Water Supply
The San Saba River rises in the rocky, semi-arid hills and mesas of western Texas and flows easterly toward the Highland Lakes above Austin. It also packs far more adventurous history than most rivers.
Read more »Don’t Suck the Plover Dry
Jessie Thomas-Blate, Coordinator, Most Endangered Rivers
April 23, 2013 | Most Endangered Rivers, Water Supply
Today, the stories of the Little Plover are about a “river in peril” plagued with dry-ups and the dying of its native brook trout. The river's very existence is threatened by uncontrolled, excessive pumping of groundwater. The groundwater that gives this river life also ensures the survival of other threatened Wisconsin lakes and rivers.
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