Alabama Water Agenda: Guiding the way to healthy waters
SELC and the Alabama Rivers Alliance unveil the Alabama Water Agenda
©Charles Seifried
The agenda is a call to action for Alabama leaders and citizens to restore and protect the state's water resources.
Alabama ranks #1 in the country for freshwater species diversity. It also ranks #4 in the number of species at risk for extinction - an indicator of the declining condition of the state's rivers and streams.
The Southern Environmental Law Center and the Alabama Rivers Alliance have produced the first Alabama Water Agenda to address this serious problem. The agenda, unveiled at a press conference in Jaunary 2007 identified the six most urgent threats to the state's waters and outlines a series of actions to ensure that Alabama's waters are pure and plentiful for generations to come.
The threats include a lack of coordination among the many agencies responsible for water protection, a lack of funding for these agencies, and lax enforcement of rules and regulations. Other threats identified in the report include suburban sprawl, stormwater pollution and growing water consumption.
On May 15, 2007 SELC and the alliance, along with Conservation Alabama, co-hosted the first annual River Action Day. The event brought together conservation groups and citizens from across the state to discuss these critical issues, set legislative priorities and the General Assembly for environmental legislation.
©SELC
Gil Rogers of SELC and April Hall of the Alabama Rivers Alliance unveil the Alabama Water Agenda at a press conference on the banks of the Alabama River in downtown Montgomery.
Among other things, our agenda calls for improving agency cooperation and dialogue, increasing funding for enforcement efforts and other programs, developing a statewide policy on interbasin transfers of water, water conservation, and drought management, and strengthening the ability of local governments to institute "smart growth" tools in their communities.
This agenda was developed with the input from dozens of grassroots groups dedicated to protecting Alabama's waters. Over the next many months, SELC and the Alabama Rivers Alliance will continue advocating the agenda with state legislators, agency heads, the governors office, business and civic organizations, and many others.
