Apalachicola River named most endangered river in the US

                The Apalachicola Chattahoochee Flint River system has been named the most endangered river in the nation by the group American Rivers.

The group recently released its America’s Most Endangered Rivers report – the report is a list of rivers at a crossroads, where key decisions in the coming months will determine the rivers’ fates.

Rivers are chosen for the list based on a number of criteria including the magnitude of the threat, a critical decision-point in the coming year and the significance of the river to people and nature.

The group put the Apalachicola Chattahoochee Flint River Basin at the top of the list because outdated water management decisions and spiraling demand have put the basin at a breaking point.

The water conflict that has gripped the region for almost three decades has come to a head with Florida’s U.S. Supreme Court suit against Georgia and the latest attempt by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to update its protocols for managing the basin which continues to allow extensive upstream withdrawals for drinking water, development, and agriculture in Alabama and Georgia.

Apalachicola Bay, which once produced 90 percent of Florida’s oysters, collapsed in 2012 due to inadequate fresh water flows forcing some fishing families to move away to find work. 

The rivers in the basin are so heavily exploited that some run at drought flows even in normal water years mainly because Georgia water use has skyrocketed and the Corps is releasing less and less water downstream.

In droughts, some tributary streams are completely dry, and many of the Apalachicola’s bottomland side streams and sloughs run dry for months at a time.

The Apalachicola Riverkeeper said they hope this designation serves as a wake-up call and will bring the actions and change in direction needed to recover the Apalachicola River and Bay System before it goes beyond the tipping point of irreversible loss.

American Rivers are calling on the governors of Alabama, Florida and Georgia to swiftly form a transparent water-sharing agreement that protects the rivers.

They are also calling on the Corps to significantly improve water management to sustain river health.

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