What is the Waterkeeper Alliance?
Posted by Lisa Carey
The Waterkeeper Alliance is a “neighborhood watch program” for waterways wherever they may be located. Who do they help, how do they work, where do they help and how can you be involved in keeping water clean?
Is there any doubt that America’s waterways, or waterways around the world are in danger from chemical waste, pollution, including rocket fuel, gasoline additives and pesticides? According to this ANP (America’s News Project) Investigation into the EPA it is estimated that polluters dump about 240 million pounds of toxins in our waterways each year.
So what can we do about polluted waterways, damages to natural plant and animal life, as well as our own lives affected by the high levels of toxins, chemicals and pollution being dumped into waterways each day? We can participate in a waterway “watch program.” Similar to many neighborhood watch programs, with goals to help keep our community and neighborhood safe, The Waterkeeper Alliance is a “neighborhood watch program” for waterways wherever they may be located.
What is Waterkeeper Alliance?
The Waterkeeper Alliance is an international grassroots advocacy group committed to preserving and protecting water from pollution, begun by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. This organization currently has 182 Waterkeeper programs around the world including programs in the United States, Canada, Australia, Bolivia, Nepal and the Russian Federation, just to name a few, and hope to increase these numbers daily. Its mission is to provide a means by which “waterkeepers” can join together to champion clean water. The Waterkeeper Alliance “Supports and empowers member Waterkeeper organizations to protect communities, ecosystems and water quality; Promotes the Waterkeeper model for watershed protection worldwide; and Advocates for issues common to Waterkeeper programs. Each waterkeeper program is designed to assist its particular community and reflect the needs of that specific body of water. Some well-known waterkeeper programs in the United States include the Hudson River Waterkeeper, the Potomac, and Puget Sound.
Are all waterkeeper’s the same?
Waterkeepers may actually have different names, depending on the waterway which they are protecting, for example they may be called riverkeepers, lakekeepers, baykeepers, or coastkeeper. It is important to maintain each of these names as part of the alliance, to provide investigation, protection and support based on each individual waterways needs. However what is the same no matter what their name is their desire to protect waterways, to investigate potential misuses and misdeeds and to advocate to correct the damages done to the water systems. What they also have in common is a trademark as a member of the Waterkeeper Alliance, and only members who have been approved through an application process and are pursuing the mission, standards and philosophy of this organization may use it.
How can you participate in The Waterkeeper Alliance?
If you live on or near a waterway, have a boat, canoe or even hip boots and are involved in the environmental protection of those waterways you may be able to join the Waterkeeper Alliance and utilize its many resources to assist you in the protection and preservation of your waterway. You may also join those waterway programs that are already in progress.
Another way to become involved in the Waterkeeper Alliance is to make a donation. Not sure if you are ready to donate to this organization? Visit Charity Navigator’s report of the Waterkeeper Alliance and compare it to other organizations. Make a donation from there or add it to your favorites list. You may also make a donation from their homepage at http://www.waterkeeper.org/
Are you considered about the water in your areas or home? Maybe you are specifically concerned about mercury levels in your waterways, drinking water and food sources. Mercury is a toxic heavy metal that contaminates a third of the United States lakes. The largest single source of mercury contamination in our water comes from coal fired powered plants as is as high as 42%. The EPA and Center for Disease Control estimate that 630,000 (1 in 6) children are born each year in the US with unsafe levels of mercury in their system due to contamination by drinking water and food sources. Mercury poisoning can put people at risk of neurological, circulatory and immune system disorders. You can be involved with the joint effort by Greenpeace and Waterkeeper Alliance by ordering a mercury testing kit from their website. https://secureusa.greenpeace.org/mercury/index.php?from=wka
The Clean Water Act
As a result of pollution to America’s waterways, and continual fires on the Cuyahoga River, the Clean Water Act of 1972 instituted. It is designed to address the issue of pollution and contamination of waterways in the United States and how to reverse the effects as well as how to protect our water for the future. The goals of the Clean Water Act are:
(1) it is the national goal that the discharge of pollutants into the navigable waters be eliminated by 1985;
(2) it is the national goal that wherever attainable, an interim goal of water quality which provides for the protection and propagation of fish, shellfish, and wildlife and provides for recreation in and on the water be achieved by July 1, 1983;
(3) it is the national policy that the discharge of toxic pollutants in toxic amounts be prohibited;
(4) it is the national policy that Federal financial assistance be provided to construct publicly owned waste treatment works;
(5) it is the national policy that area wide waste treatment management planning processes be developed and implemented to assure adequate control of sources of pollutants in each State;
(6) it is the national policy that a major research and demonstration effort be made to develop technology necessary to eliminate the discharge of pollutants into the navigable waters, waters of the contiguous zone, and the oceans; and
(7) it is the national policy that programs for the control of nonpoint sources of pollution be developed and implemented in an expeditious manner so as to enable the goals of this chapter to be met through the control of both point and nonpoint sources of pollution.
(Title 33, Chapter 26, Subchapter I, Section 1251)
According to Title V of The Clean Water Act: U.S. citizens may file a citizen suit against a CWA violator if EPA or a state fails to take enforcement action.
The Clean Water Act has many worthy goals. However, many of them haven’t been met. The Waterkeeper Alliance is may be a means to an these ends. Waterkeepers are part investigator, part scientist, part environmentalist, and part advocate, across the world. The Waterkeeper Alliance helps each participant in this organization with each of these stages. Which one are you? And how do you plan on getting involved?
A complete copy of the Clean Water Act is available for download in PDF format.
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