About Us

Alabama has 77,000 miles of streams and rivers with more types of plants and animals living in its lakes, rivers, and streams than any other state in the nation.  However, we also have one of the highest extinction rates in North America, many of which are species that live in our rivers.  Alabama’s precious water resources currently face many threats.  From improper enforcement of environmental regulations to the lack of planning and policy to ensure sustainable water for the future, our community is tasked with protecting the waters of the state for the health of the people and the life therein, or else we risk losing natural treasures that we can never retrieve. 

Our mission is to protect Alabama's rivers through water quality and quantity policy advocacy, grassroots organizing, and the providing of information to citizens in order to achieve clean and healthy watershed ecosystems, healthy people, strong economies, and a functioning democratic system of government in Alabama.

Click below to find out more about any of the following:

• Alabama Rivers Alliance Staff
• Alabama Rivers Alliance Board of Directors
• History and Successes
• Our Sponsors

The Alabama Rivers Alliance was formed out of the efforts of its predecessor – the Alabama State Rivers Coalition.  The Alabama State Rivers Coalition was formed in 1993 and led by the Cahaba River Society, Alabama Chapter of the Sierra Club, Lake Watch of Lake Martin, Alabama Citizen Action, Friends of the Locust Fork River, and the Alabama Environmental Council.

On July 1, 1997, the Alliance started its first fiscal year operating without fiscal sponsor. Today, the Alabama Rivers Alliance has four staff, a summer intern program, and an annual operating budget of $305,000.

Over the past decade, the Alliance has enjoyed multiple successes, but none alone. Working in coalition and partnership with diverse groups and individuals across the state has enriched the river protection movement, and grown our numbers to be a significant voice in the state. Some of the shared successes we have enjoyed include: 

• Assisted in building, uniting, and supporting more than 70 grassroots watershed organizations throughout the state.
• Worked with multiple stakeholders to designate some of Alabama’s most ecologically significant rivers and streams as “Outstanding Alabama Waters.”
• Helped form the ADEM Reform Coalition in order to forge a reformed state environmental agency that is run “for the people and by the people.”
• Implemented an acid mine drainage reclamation project in the Hurricane Creek watershed.
• Successfully advocated a rule change to reduce cancer risk statewide through a change in water quality standards.
  

We are privately funded and all of our work is accomplished with the financial support of people like you. Please donate today.