We were very honored in Georgia last week to host the Waterkeeper Alliance’s national conference at Callaway Gardens. As part of the week’s activities, a fundraising event was held in Atlanta at the beautiful Buckhead home of Vicki and Howard Palefsky. Bobby Kennedy was the guest speaker, and he talked about his work through the years with the Waterkeeper Alliance: past fights, past victories and the challenges we face today.
The Waterkeeper Alliance is one of the fastest-growing environmental groups in the world, bonding together more than 200 Waterkeeper groups in 23 countries.
Of all the water on earth, less than 1 percent is drinkable. We have to do everything in our power to protect our lakes, rivers and water resources around the world.
It was very fitting that Bobby Kennedy was here as the conference’s guest speaker. Twenty years ago, Rutherford and I went up to New York to meet with Bobby to find out about his experience with the Hudson Riverkeeper and how we could do something similar in Atlanta to help protect the Chattahoochee River.
The Hudson Riverkeeper was originally founded in 1966 as the Hudson River Fishermen’s Association by a group of commercial and recreational fishermen — many of them veterans — united to save their river. These fishermen recognized that outspoken, citizen-led advocacy was the only way to ensure that laws were enforced and their river, livelihood and the health of their families were protected. They took on many of the nation’s biggest industrial polluters and won. See their story on the Waterkeeper Alliance website.
After learning about the Hudson River success story and the growing Waterkeeper Alliance movement, in 1994, Rutherford and I founded the Chattahoochee Riverkeeper, which was the 10th Waterkeeper chapter in the nation.
We are fortunate to have great leaders like former Mayor Shirley Franklin, who led the effort to rebuild the city’s sewer infrastructure, and Sally Bethea, who serves as the executive director for Chattahoochee Riverkeeper, and leads our organizational and governmental efforts.
The Chattahoochee River is in better shape now than it was 20 years ago, but we still have a lot of work to do. We must work every day — locally and globally — to protect our water resources. I am truly grateful for everyone who supports the Waterkeeper Alliance and the Chattahoochee Riverkeeper.
Georgia’s Riverkeepers!
Robbie Arrington, Altamaha River www.altamahariverkeeper.org
Sally Bethea, Chattahoochee River www.chattahoochee.org
Joe Cook, Coosa River www.coosa.org
Gordon Rogers, Flint River www.flintriverkeeper.org
Emily Markesteyn, Ogeechee River www.ogeecheeriverkeeper.org
Ashby Nix, Satilla River www.satillariverkeeper.org
Tonya Bonitatibus, Savannah River www.savannahriverkeeper.org
