Resources and Publications
Running Dry: Challenges and Opportunities in Restoring Healthy Flows in Georgia’s Upper Flint River Basin
ISSUES: Climate Change, Water Supply, Urban Rivers
Georgia’s upper Flint River is a river running dry. While rivers and streams in arid parts of the United States often dry up seasonally, the Southeast has historically been known as a water-rich area with plentiful rainfall, lush landscapes, and perennial streams and rivers. The upper Flint supports recreation, fisheries, local economies, and threatened and endangered species that all depend on healthy and reliable flows which are becoming increasingly rare. This report examines low-flow problems in the river basin and points the way toward solutions to these multi-faceted problems. The Flint’s are the same challenges facing rivers in many urbanizing areas and in regions facing increasing water quantity stress, and finding solutions to these challenges will only grow more important in the future.
Staying Green: Joint Reports on Operations and Maintenance of Green Infrastructure in the Chesapeake Bay
ISSUES: Climate Change, Stormwater & Sewage, Water Pollution, Water Supply, Urban Rivers
As more communities move towards adopting green infrastructure as a cost-effective approach to manage polluted runoff, it is critical that local governments address barriers to operations and maintenance. Despite the benefits of green infrastructure, operations and maintenance has been repeatedly raised as a technical barrier to adoption of green infrastructure and remains a concern for many local governments in the Chesapeake Bay region and across the country. American Rivers and Green for All collaborated on two reports; one to identify significant barriers to operations and maintenance and recommend strategies to address them and a second report to assess the landscape of career opportunities for workers with applicable skills to conduct operations and maintenance of green infrastructure practices.
Drinking Water Infrastructure: Who Pays and How (And For What)
ISSUES: Water Supply, Stormwater & Sewage
This guide should help advocates understand not only how to be more effective opponents of destructive and bloated infrastructure projects, but also how to be more effective proponents of sustainable drinking water systems.
Money Pit: The High Cost and High Risk of Water Supply Reservoirs in the Southeast
ISSUES: Water Supply
When seeking to secure reliable supplies of clean water for today and the future, many Southeastern communities reach reflexively for dams and reservoirs. However, the region has many more expedient, lower cost, lower-impact solutions at hand. Meanwhile, the risks inherent in new reservoir development in the region are becoming more and more apparent. This report documents the financial risks and water resource risks tied to the development of new water supply reservoirs in the Southeast. It also outlines a set of key recommendations for local leaders who seek to reduce their communities’ risks—both financial risks and closely linked water resource risks—in planning for enough clean water for the future.
Going Green to Save Green: Economic Benefits of Green Infrastructure Practices
ISSUES: Water Supply
American Rivers’ series of new reports highlights the economic benefits of green infrastructure strategies to better manage polluted runoff. These practices, from rain gardens to green roofs, work by capturing rainwater where it falls. By reducing the polluted runoff that flows into rivers and streams, green infrastructure practices play a critical role in protecting clean rivers. Unlike most traditional water infrastructure, green infrastructure practices can help communities save money while also providing a number of economic benefits that include reduced costs, increased energy efficiency, mitigating flooding and improving air quality.
Weathering Change
ISSUES: Water Pollution, Floods & Floodplains, Climate Change, Water Supply, Stormwater & Sewage
Many federal policies still encourage the same backward-looking water management approaches that didn’t work in the past and are even less suited to the future. These ten reforms are some of the best ways we can change outdated federal policies and embrace a forward-looking approach to water management. They represent proactive steps Congress and the Executive Branch can take to address climate change.
Natural Security: How Sustainable Water Strategies are Preparing Communities for a Changing Climate
ISSUES: Climate Change, Water Supply
The impacts of global warming will hit rivers and river communities first and worst, in the form of increased droughts, floods, and waterborne diseases. Along with decreasing global warming pollution, protecting and restoring rivers must be part of the solution. Healthy rivers boost community safety and security, building resilience against these impacts and helping communities thrive in the face of a changing climate. American Rivers is shining a national spotlight on how global warming is threatening river health, clean water, and water supplies, and we are promoting 21st century green infrastructure solutions that protect communities and enhance health, safety and quality of life.
Hidden Reservoir: Why Water Efficiency is the Best Solution for the Southeast
ISSUES: Water Supply, Climate Change
This report makes the case that water efficiency is the best source of affordable water and must be the backbone of water supply planning. Hidden Reservoir outlines nine cost-effective policies proven to secure substantial water supply for communities and their rivers. It also includes examples of successful programs and policies that highlight how water efficiency can work in the Southeast now.
Unnatural Disasters, Natural Solutions: Lessons from the Flooding of New Orleans
ISSUES: Climate Change, Floods & Floodplains, Water Supply
This report discusses the failings of structural flood protection as seen in the case of New Orleans and Hurricane Katrina. It makes the case for natural flood protection via eight case studies, where communities have chosen to protect themselves by protecting and restoring nature's own capacity to reduce the size and power of floods, and by simply moving out of harm's way.
Instream Flow Toolkit: Advocacy Guide to Healthy River and Stream Flows in Washington
ISSUES: Water Supply
American Rivers and the Washington Environmental Council developed this toolkit to assist citizens working to restore and protect river and stream flows. In the most basic sense, "instream flow" refers to the amount of water preserved in a river or stream to protect resources such as fish, water quality, wildlife and recreation.
Paving Our Way to Water Shortages: How Sprawl Aggravates the Effects of Drought
ISSUES: Water Supply
This report discusses not how we use our water supply, but how the ways in which we urbanize and grow replacing natural areas with roads, parking lots, and buildings affect the water available for us to use: wisely or not.
