Press Release

Washington, D.C.- American Rivers named the Flint River among America’s Most Endangered Rivers® of 2013 today, shining a national spotlight on the need for collaborative work to protect and restore river flows to sustain water supplies for communities and farms, recreational opportunities, and fish and wildlife habitat.

“The America’s Most Endangered Rivers report is a call to action to save rivers that are facing a critical tipping point,” said Ben Emanuel of American Rivers. “We all need healthy rivers.  They provide our drinking water, support the economies of our communities, and promote public health and quality of life. We hope stakeholders along the Flint River will work together to ensure sufficient river flows for today and the future.”

The Flint River is threatened by declining river flows and outdated water management that is drying up the river system. From Metro Atlanta to the farm country of Southwest Georgia, there are insufficient management policies to keep healthy flows running in the river. As a result, river flows have declined, and some major tributary streams now run dry even in non-drought years.
The consequences of continually low flows in the Flint River and its tributaries are dire. The Flint drainage shelters a great variety of native fish as well as five federally protected mussel species, all of which will be negatively impacted by the persistence of diminished flows. In addition, low flows drastically reduce the availability of recreational opportunities on the Flint River, and consequently pose a threat to local tourism-dependent economic activity. 

American Rivers and its partners are working to reverse the various causes of low flows throughout the basin and restore the health of the Flint. They also called on the state of Georgia to protect the Flint properly during drought to safeguard the river’s health. Recent legislative attention to the Flint River Drought Protection Act is a testament to the seriousness of water quantity issues in the lower Flint River basin of Southwest Georgia and throughout the entire basin from Atlanta to the Florida state line. American Rivers and Flint Riverkeeper have just completed an assessment of low-flow problems in the upper portion of the Flint River basin, pointing the way toward solutions for that part of the river system.

“For nearly 40 years the Flint River system has been subjected to a state water withdrawal permitting system that has failed to protect flows in the river,” said Flint Riverkeeper Gordon Rogers. “The past management of the Flint does not meet a standard of good stewardship, but now is the time to turn things around and work together toward restoration. This river can be healed.”  Rogers is Executive Director and Riverkeeper for Flint Riverkeeper, an organization of families, farms, and businesses dedicated to the restoration and protection of the Flint.

“The farming economy of Southwest Georgia relies on the waters of the Flint River and the Floridan Aquifer,” said Robin Singletary. “We want to be smart about our use of this resource. Seeing streams run dry does not bode well for the future of the agricultural economy in this area of the state.” Singletary is the owner of CoveyRise Plantation in Camilla, a member of the Flint Riverkeeper Board of Directors, and holds agricultural water-withdrawal permits in the lower Flint River basin.

“We encourage citizens to act now to ensure the Flint River and our communities thrive and leave a lasting legacy for our children and grandchildren. This is not someone else’s issue—every person in the Flint River basin is impacted,” said Pam Young, Executive Director of the Southern Conservation Trust, a land conservation nonprofit that serves the Southern Crescent of Metro Atlanta.

The Flint River provides water for at least one million people, 10,000 farms, world-class fishing, seven unique species, and flocks of boaters who come to experience the river’s 300 miles of exceptional paddling.  Last year, the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint river system was named one of America’s Great Waters by the America’s Great Waters Coalition, an alliance of groups from the local to the national level involved in protecting and restoring the health of American water resources.

The annual America’s Most Endangered Rivers® report is a list of rivers at a crossroads, where key decisions in the coming months will determine the rivers’ fates.  Over the years, the report has helped spur many successes including the removal of outdated dams, the protection of rivers with Wild and Scenic designations, and the prevention of harmful development and pollution.

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American Rivers is the leading organization working to protect and restore the nation’s rivers and streams. Rivers connect us to each other, nature, and future generations. Since 1973, American Rivers has fought to preserve these connections, helping protect and restore more than 150,000 miles of rivers through advocacy efforts, on-the-ground projects, and the annual release of America’s Most Endangered Rivers®.

Headquartered in Washington, DC, American Rivers has offices across the country and more than 100,000 supporters, members, and volunteers nationwide. Visit www.americanrivers.org, www.facebook.com/americanrivers and www.twitter.com/americanrivers.