2024 Report and Call to Action

Dear Black Warrior Riverkeeper supporters,

As our team, partnerships, and support base continue to strengthen, we are increasingly confident that our Waterkeeper system is exactly what this vital but vulnerable watershed needs. Thanks to the support of members – donors and volunteers – like you, we accomplished all this and more through November 1:

~Celebrated Nelson Brooke’s 20th year as our staff Riverkeeper: patrolman and spokesman for the watershed.

~Recruited thousands of people to successfully persuade EPA to revoke Alabama’s unsafe coal ash program.

~Highlighted a new report refuting the alleged economic benefits of the destructive Northern Beltline project.

~Initiated litigation with Friends of Hurricane Creek and SELC to fix Tuscaloosa’s chronic sewage spills.

~Continued our lawsuit with GASP and SELC against Bluestone Coke for polluting Five Mile Creek.

~Won a settlement in our case against Warrior Met Coal’s Mine No. 7, requiring many steps to stop pollution.

~Directed Warrior Met Coal’s $250,000 settlement payment to the Freshwater Land Trust to help Davis Creek.

~Protected 366 acres at the Mulberry and Locust Forks’ confluence through our Maxine Mine lawsuit victory.

~Passed the milestone of 100,000 pounds of litter removed by our Volunteer Cleanups Program since 2021.

~Ran 33 cleanups in which we and our partners removed over 19,618 pounds of trash from the watershed.

~Made 155 educational speeches to business, government, nonprofit, religious and scholastic groups.

~Wrote comment letters to government agencies, requesting improvements to 26 permits and/or water rules.

~Monitored 93 facilities across our 17-county basin on patrols by foot, truck, canoe, boat and drone.

~Reviewed 455 facilities’ Discharge Monitoring Reports to record the number and nature of their violations.

~Collected and analyzed 1,070 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 (top) rating on GuideStar/Candid, the leading source of information on nonprofits.

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 2025,

Charles Scribner
Executive Director
Black Warrior Riverkeeper
[email protected]
205-458-0095

Black Warrior Riverkeeper team members at the confluence of the Locust and Mulberry Forks.