2001
Led a campaign of diverse groups and individuals that drafted the Georgia Water Bill of Rights, nine basic principles against which to evaluate water-related laws, policies and regulations and secured the support of 1.6 million Georgians.
Secured sponsors for, and helped pass, legislation during the 2001 General Assembly that requires the state to use quality-assured citizen data to determine the health of state waters.
Organized eleven stream and river cleanups, which involved more than 100 people and removed 160 bags of trash from the Chattahoochee River watershed. Conducted 145 speaking engagements to schools, civic and business groups, neighborhood associations, legislators, and other conservation groups.
Secured a precedent-setting judicial decision regarding the standing of public interest groups, such as UCR, to challenge water withdrawal permits.
Helped secure a new Interim Instream Flow Policy for Georgia (advocated by Riverkeeper since 1996), which was adopted by the DNR Board in May 2001.
Conducted two tree projects, planting 3,000 trees near the River, in conjunction with the National Park Service and corporate partners TBS, Coca Cola, EDS and Six Continents.
Helped secure the first-ever state audit of erosion programs in Georgia, which has resulted in a new process to develop comprehensive revisions to the state programs for legislative debate in 2003.
Led successful effort to secure fishermen's right-to-know regulations requiring all permitted industrial and municipal dischargers to label their outfall pipes with emergency information.
Handled over 300 HOTLINE calls from people seeking information on the river and ways to solve water-related problems in their communities.
Monitored the progress of the city of Atlanta in meeting its responsibilities under the federal consent decree negotiated to resolve UCR’s lawsuit against the city for violations of the Clean Water Act at its sewage facilities.
Investigated and verified contamination at Fulton County's Morgan Falls Landfill where landfill leachate is polluting a tributary to the Chattahoochee.
Secured funding for, and purchased, a 44-person pontoon boat to use as a floating classroom on Lake Lanier and led more than 2,000 students on voyages of discovery during 2000-2001 in partnership with Elachee Nature Center.
Continued the daily bacteria monitoring of the river within the National Recreation Area in partnership with the U.S. Geological Survey and the Park Service, which includes daily data transmission to the Internet for use by river users.
