Coosa Riverkeeper

Coosa Riverkeeper Coosa Riverkeeper is the voice of the Coosa River and its tributaries in Alabama.

Hey y’all! Our office is closed this week (Sept 7-11) to allow our staff time to rest and recharge from our busy summer ...
09/07/2026

Hey y’all! Our office is closed this week (Sept 7-11) to allow our staff time to rest and recharge from our busy summer before we jump into our busy fall! If you need anything, reach out to [email protected] and we'll get back to you as soon as we can.

With our Swim Guide season finished for the summer, we'd like to continue sharing our gratitude for the generous funding...
09/06/2026

With our Swim Guide season finished for the summer, we'd like to continue sharing our gratitude for the generous funding we received during the 2026 Swim Guide program! Swim Guide has a pretty large budget with a chunk of that cost being for supplies needed in the field and lab as well as water quality equipment. Fortunately, thanks to the help from multiple grantors, local businesses, and local municipal funding, we were able to purchase all of our needed supplies for the summer so that we can provide weekly water quality testing all summer long. Please join us in showing gratitude for our 2026 Swim Guide sponsors! They ultimately help us make this work possible, and the river brings us all together. 👍

From all of us at Coosa Riverkeeper, THANK YOU❗

Well folks, we have concluded our 2026 Swim Guide program, but before we go, there are some folks we would like to ackno...
09/05/2026

Well folks, we have concluded our 2026 Swim Guide program, but before we go, there are some folks we would like to acknowledge for all their work this summer! Our Seasonal Environmental Technicians are a HUGE reason we are able to collect as many samples over the summer as we do while also providing our organization assistance where needed outside of Swim Guide. Each Environmental Tech is trained on our strict field and lab protocols, and they are who you see out in the watershed collecting samples each week of the summer. They come from a wide range of majors, colleges, and backgrounds, each sharing a passion for the river and an eagerness to learn more. Please join us in thanking these amazing individuals and wishing them well as they return to school, work, and their lives!

💧 Jared Gunter
💧 Mya McClain
💧 Chloe James
💧 Garner Johnson
💧 Margaret Wheatley
💧 Jennifer Sanford

We hope to see them all succeed in their career paths. 👏👏👏

We would also like to give a special shoutout to Jennifer Sanford, one of our Seasonal Employees mentioned previously. Jennifer has been with us for back-to-back summers as a Seasonal Environmental Tech. Jennifer has gone above and beyond in all that she does during her time here, and has been a huge asset to this summer's program especially. She has collected hundreds of water quality samples, taken surveys from anglers, analyzed algae samples, collated data, and keeps our lab looking spotless and organized every single time before she leaves the office. Jennifer is what you would call an MVP, and her presence in our office will be greatly missed. From all of us here, thank you for all you've done and for all that you will do, it has been a pleasure to work with you!

09/04/2026

Final week of Swim Guide!!! We’ll see y’all again next summer 😎

Happy Friday y'all and Happy Last Day of our summer Swim Guide! 🙌Our team is issuing 3️⃣8️⃣ green alerts, 3️⃣ yellow ale...
09/04/2026

Happy Friday y'all and Happy Last Day of our summer Swim Guide! 🙌

Our team is issuing 3️⃣8️⃣ green alerts, 3️⃣ yellow alerts, and 3️⃣ red alerts for our final week of the program! Although our Swim Guide monitoring will conclude, we will still be monitoring various streams under our Riverkeeper Patrol program as well as responding to citizen complaints in the months that follow. If you are interested in learning more about Swim Guide and seeing all of the water quality data collected over the summer, please visit coosariver.org/swimguide❗

*Disclaimer: We were unable to collect the Corn Creek Park sample this week*

Thank you all for following along with our alerts each week, and thank you for all of your support. We'd also like to give a huge shoutout to all of our sponsors who helped fund our work this summer and made it possible! 💧

Coosa Riverkeeper emite 3 alertas rojas (alta concentración de bacterias), 3 alertas amarillas (moderada concentración de bacterias) y 38 alertas verdes (baja concentración de bacterias). Puedes ver el conjunto de datos completo y el mapa en su sitio web: CoosaRiver.org/SwimGuide. ¡Cuídate y disfruta de un excelente fin de semana en el agua!

Yesterday, our Staff Riverkeeper and Middle Basin Community Organizer attended a Town Hall meeting in Talladega County w...
09/03/2026

Yesterday, our Staff Riverkeeper and Middle Basin Community Organizer attended a Town Hall meeting in Talladega County with Representative Hurst, Representative Robbins, Senator Bell, and Senator Kelley. We also had the chance to speak with some of the Talladega County Commission.

Serving as a voice, advocate, and defender of the Coosa River is at the heart of our work. Influencing policy decisions, mobilizing supporters, and educating elected officials will be at the center of our outreach efforts.

Over the next three to four years, we will:
* Identify existing laws and regulations that currently hinder the protection and/or restoration of the Coosa and focus on updating them;
* Educate elected/appointed officials on the importance of protecting and restoring the Coosa for environmental and economic value;
* Mobilize our constituency of lake associations, partner organizations, and membership to influence local government policy making;
*Protect the Coosa and the surrounding areas using legal and regulatory support.

Millions of tons of coal ash sit in the groundwater on the banks of the Coosa River at Plant Gadsden and Plant Gaston. N...
09/02/2026

Millions of tons of coal ash sit in the groundwater on the banks of the Coosa River at Plant Gadsden and Plant Gaston. Now, despite no changes to the permit program, the EPA is now APPROVING the same program it DENIED in 2024.

In 2024, the EPA cited that the permits did not require unlined pits to be closed properly, did not require adequate groundwater monitoring, and did not require meaningful clean up for the existing contamination. Now, the EPA is attempting to approve the exact same program proven to put public health and our natural resources at risk.

There is a virtual hearing on TOMORROW and you can submit written comments through September 14 at https://www.regulations.gov/commenton/EPA-HQ-OLEM-2022-0903-0560

This is OUR river, let's protect it together. Make your voice heard today.

What's this photo? You're lookin' at the capped in place coal ash pond on Neely Henry Lake upstream from the drinking water intake in downtown Gadsden

That’s a wrap on our summer nutrient sampling! 🌊Over the past few months, we’ve been out on Neely Henry, Logan Martin, a...
09/01/2026

That’s a wrap on our summer nutrient sampling! 🌊

Over the past few months, we’ve been out on Neely Henry, Logan Martin, and Lay Lakes collecting samples to better understand what’s happening beneath the surface. This year, we continued looking at Chlorophyll-a, which can help us understand where algae is growing and where conditions may be more favorable for harmful algal blooms. After another summer of sampling, we’re building a pretty comprehensive picture of where Chlorophyll-a levels are higher and lower across these lakes.

We also wanted to dig a little deeper so we collected samples for nitrogen and phosphorus as well. Two nutrients that can play a major role in algae growth. Now comes the fun part: putting all of this data together! By comparing our nitrogen and phosphorus results with Chlorophyll-a levels, we can start looking for patterns and hopefully get a better idea of what’s driving algae growth in different parts of our lakes.

And we’re not collecting all this data just to put it in a spreadsheet. Our next step is to take what we’ve learned to ADEM and use the data to push for stronger nutrient protections for our waterways. We still have a lot of numbers to crunch, but we’re excited about what this dataset can tell us. Stay tuned as we’ll be sharing more of what we found! 🔬🌿

August ending makes us reflective about the summer months. What's a summer memory you'll savor? "Summer has always been ...
08/31/2026

August ending makes us reflective about the summer months. What's a summer memory you'll savor?

"Summer has always been good to me, even the bittersweet end, with the slanted yellow light." – Paul Monette

📸: Kacey Hayes

The Coosa Riverkeeper Staff & Board of Directors is saddened by the recent loss of one of our past board members, Jason ...
08/29/2026

The Coosa Riverkeeper Staff & Board of Directors is saddened by the recent loss of one of our past board members, Jason Wilson.

Jason was a force. A deep thinker and listener. A creative problem solver and innovator. We will remember him fondly as an advocate for the Coosa during his time on our Board of Directors and afterwards as we worked with him to protect the river as a Councilman in Gadsden.

We raise a glass to Jason! He made an impact on so many lives and his home river! Pictured here you see him alongside some of the Back Forty crew as we christened a pontoon boat to our patrol fleet, circa 2016.

Address

102 Croft Street
Birmingham, AL
35242

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm

Telephone

+12059816565

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