2022 Report and Call to Action

Dear Black Warrior Riverkeeper supporters,

As we look forward to more clean water advocacy in 2023, it is helpful to reflect on our movement’s past. We recently finished celebrating two milestones: the 50th Anniversary of the Clean Water Act and the 20th Anniversary of Black Warrior Riverkeeper. While we are proud of our history, we recognize the urgency of further protecting this vital watershed. In the first 10 months of 2022, your support propelled us to new levels in which we…

~Required Drummond to fix its abandoned Maxine Mine site through a lawsuit with SELC and Public Justice.

~Directed a $1,000,000 SEP payment from Drummond to Freshwater Land Trust for Locust Fork restoration.

~Sued Warrior Met Coal for discharging polluted wastewater from Mine No. 7 at unpermitted locations.

~Collaborated with Waterkeepers Alabama to translate and publish critical pollution information in Spanish.

~Engaged a new AmeriCorps member, Rosey White, to expand our rapidly-growing volunteer litter cleanups.

~Ran 36 cleanups in which volunteers and partners removed over 28,952 pounds of trash from the watershed.

~Promoted the installation and maintenance of 12 Litter Gitter trash traps in Birmingham-area streams.

~Made 111 educational speeches to business, government, nonprofit, religious, and scholastic groups.

~Wrote comment letters to government agencies, requesting improvements to 25 permits and/or water rules.

~Monitored 101 facilities across our 17-county basin on patrols by foot, truck, canoe, boat, and drone.

~Reviewed 292 facilities’ Discharge Monitoring Reports to record the number and nature of their violations.

~Collected and analyzed 765 water samples, regularly publishing ambient water quality data on our website.

~Engaged hundreds of volunteers of all ages and backgrounds who donated thousands of service hours.

~Retained our Platinum rating on GuideStar, the leading source of information on nonprofits.

~Fielded pollution reports, documented problems, and notified government agencies, media, and the public.

Please help support our continued success for this river basin by making a donation or signing up for our monthly volunteer email list. Thank you!

For Clean Water in 2023,

Charles Scribner
Executive Director
Black Warrior Riverkeeper