Charles Scribner, the executive director of the Black Warrior Riverkeeper, interned with the Hudson Riverkeeper before moving to Birmingham to pursue protection of the Black Warrior River. He exercises protective care over the river by managing the organization, engaging with followers on social media, leading fundraisers and educational outreaches, meeting with other environmental groups and being an advocate for change among polluters in our area.
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“I would be honored to work for any waterkeeper in the world, and there are over 330 now worldwide, every continent,” said Scribner, “but I’m particularly excited about working for one in Alabama because Alabama is actually number one in freshwater biodiversity which means Alabama has more species of freshwater fish, turtles, mussels, snails and crawfish than any other state.”
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Legislation for water quality in Alabama, however, is virtually nonexistent and is therefore insufficient for sustaining this biodiversity.
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The Alabama Water Resources Act is responsible for evaluating daily water withdrawals from businesses, individuals and irrigation users. Additionally, the act is intended to manage water issues in major Alabama river basins, create plans for flooding and prepare for droughts.
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Despite the intentions of the act, environmentalists suggest the efforts are not capable of protecting waterways in the most basic sense. According to Scribner, Alabama is the only state among its neighbors without a comprehensive water plan to compensate for damages and avoid future ones. Establishing initiatives to reverse Alabama’s current waterway state is an incentive for Scribner to continue putting forth work efforts.
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The Black Warrior River has ample necessity for protection. Situated just to the west of Red Mountain and flowing through 17 counties, it’s a primary drinking water source and recreation area for numerous Birmingham residents.
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“200,000 people in the greater Birmingham area get their drinking water every day from the Black Warrior River’s Mulberry Fork,” said Scribner, “and then there are other drinking water intakes in the Black Warrior system such as Inland Lake and Smith Lake.”
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However, industrialization in and around the city threatens the recreational and drinking safety of the river.
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“Part of the reason is that the major coal scenes happen to be in the Black Warrior River Basin predominantly,” said Scribner. “Particularly in Walker County and Tuscaloosa County, but that matters for Jefferson County because if we’re getting our drinking water from over there, then the water quality matters.”
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In addition to a history of pollution, the Black Warrior River has history behind the foundations of Birmingham as a whole.
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“The Black Warrior Rivershed part of Birmingham historically, in terms of its industrial assets and the fact that it had coal, limestone and iron ore, is really the reason that Birmingham exists at all. The minerals that were found here are the reasons that we have the city,” said Scribner.
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Local creeks and rivers were then used as process water for these major factories, which allowed the industries to thrive.
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“The water resources were as important as the mineral resources in really making Birmingham the Magic City that it quickly became,” said Scribner.
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Village Creek, a tributary of the Black Warrior River, runs almost exclusively through Jefferson County. For many years, it was Birmingham’s primary source of drinking water. However, because of industrial damages from coal and steel working leaching into surrounding watersheds, it became too polluted for consumption.
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“The Black Warrior River Watershed faces a grim litany of pollution threats,” said Scribner. “For example, coal mining, sewage, construction storm water runoff, even animal factories like the concentrated animal feeding operations upstream of Birmingham.”
Some of these problems became so evidently pressing that in 2013, the Black Warrior River landed on “America’s Most Endangered Rivers,” a list published annually by American Rivers. The organization monitors water quality throughout the nation and highlights 10 rivers in the country facing a situation that could make or break the ecological and recreational health of that river. For the Black Warrior River, a coal mine was proposed directly across from a Birmingham area drinking water source.
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“The list was really helpful in bringing national attention,” said Scribner. "It’s a way of highlighting a problem and putting pressure on the decision makers, so it’s a good thing to get on that list if you’re trying to win on a particular issue.”
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Black Warrior Riverkeeper and its dedicated citizens hope to continue their efforts to make the most viable water possible in the river.
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“We’re doing the work that we do at Black Warrior Riverkeeper for the sake of wildlife habitat, public health and recreation, and in no particular order. Those are all important things to us,” said Scribner. “But our long-term vision would be that the river and its tributaries would be more swimmable, fishable and drinkable.”
Your Neighborhood Riverkeepers
Black Warrior Riverkeeper
by Hallie King
Jefferson County’s water supply has a tumultuous history of pollution and protection issues. Because coal mines and steel factories surround local watersheds on every side, pollution has been present since the city’s beginnings. Although some waterways such as Village Creek - which runs from Roebuck through East Lake to Ensley and eventually into the Black Warrior River - run almost exclusively through Jefferson County and provide the bulk of local drinking water, they also affect other bodies of water throughout the state, the nation and the world because of the pollutants within them.
Organizations throughout the state work tirelessly to protect local waterways and subsequently protect waterways nationwide that are affected in return. One of those organizations is the Freshwater Land Trust, a “Birmingham-based nonprofit that conserves, connects and cares for land and water in Central Alabama, creating dynamic green spaces for future generations,” said Mary Beth Brown, director of communications at the Freshwater Land Trust.
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The state of Alabama is a vital component of national water health because of the amount of water that runs through our streams, rivers, lakes and eventually into the Gulf of Mexico.
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“Alabama is unique in that a lot of water runs through our state and into the Gulf of Mexico,” said Brown. “So what we put in our water, whether directly or indirectly, has a big impact on what is flowing into the Gulf.”
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Contrastingly, water systems and other external factors outside of the immediate area directly affect the Jefferson County drinking water supply. The coal and steel industries, residential advancement and water policy still cause obstacles that waterkeepers are hard at work to improve every day.
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Major organizations work on global, national and local scales to protect waterways big and small that are ultimately interconnected. The Waterkeeper Alliance is a national system of action groups committed to protecting the natural right to clean water. The Alliance began on the Hudson River in New York when fishermen could no longer work due to an overabundance of pollutants harming their catch. Their work significantly improved the water quality of the Hudson River, which encouraged others nationwide to take action in their own communities.
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Now, more than 300 waterkeeper groups work to protect six continents’ worth of waterways of all types and sizes. Eight of them reside in Alabama. These groups commit to evaluating polluters, enforcing proper prosecution and educating the public to create the most viable waterways possible.
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Birmingham’s water supply comes from the Black Warrior River and the neighboring Cahaba River on opposite sides of Red Mountain. Approximately half of the city’s water is sourced from each river respectively. Each has its own sequence of pollution problems that threaten water quality on a daily basis, and each has an entrusted Riverkeeper organization that monitors its protection on a daily basis.
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Click on a river below to get started. Follow the links to learn more about how you can help.
Myra Crawford, the executive director for the Cahaba Riverkeeper, worked a career as a journalist for years before pursuing public health later in life. The research background that she established from her secondary career led to the founding of the Cahaba Riverkeeper.
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The catalyst that brought the organization to life began when Crawford did a freelance article for Birmingham Magazine about the Cahaba River.
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“The article that I wrote in Birmingham Magazine in June 1971 was telling the story of a walk along the Cahaba… the deterioration of the river and the need to protect it,” Crawford said. “My last sentence was, ‘Who will save the Cahaba?’ Now, 47 years later, we clearly understand the answer – us.”
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She discovered that scientific data related to the water quality and biodiversity of the river was incredibly dated in some areas and nonexistent in others. The mission of the organization is to find and report the scientific data behind pollution problems in the river to keep it as well-sustained as possible.
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The data is collected and organized in a way that, when presented to the public, is consumable no matter the level of scientific background the reader has.
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“Our mission is to defend the ecological integrity of the Cahaba River, its tributaries and watershed to ensure clean water, a healthy aquatic environment and the river’s aesthetic values, including recreational safety,” reads the Cahaba Riverkeeper mission statement. “We are dedicated to the scientific study of the Cahaba and ensuring that current, evidence-based data are readily available to the public.”
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Public understanding regarding the Cahaba River is murky, partially due to the lack of scientific data present before the establishment of the Cahaba Riverkeeper and additionally due to human interference.
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The drinking water source to the east of Red Mountain is threatened primarily by sediment loading from construction sites and increasing residential areas.
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“Sediment is the Cahaba’s main pollution problem. Collapsing banks and inflowing trash are choking the habitat of the snails, the mussels and the fish,” said Crawford.
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In the past, Birmingham’s historic coal and steel industries led to a massive influx of air and water quality problems. Smoke, runoff and debris from factories caused pollution to leach into the ground and watersheds. Now, modern pollution is manmade.
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“The polluters used to be the four or five big industries that we had when we had coal, but most of them are gone now,” said Crawford. “It’s people.”
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The leading cause of sedimentation is a phenomenon that Crawford calls “impervious cover.”
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“The increasing amount of impervious cover, (which is) pavement and roof tops from our constant building in the upper Cahaba, leaves less earth available to slow down the filtration of rain on its way to the river. The water rushes in hotter and faster, often collapsing more of the banks and causing even more sediment to clog the flow.”
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Impervious cover causes the natural flow of water being filtered through the ground to be interrupted by human influence. Water instead lands on roofs, paved roads and concrete-covered lots with nowhere to absorb into the ground. Landing on hard, flat surfaces, it flows unfiltered directly into watersheds. This water is usually warmer due to the heat of the ground, which disrupts the natural habitat for aquatic life and causes structural changes in the banks and water flow.
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Human influence is a direct threat that is being locally debated with the proposal of the Cahaba Beach Road expansion in Shelby County. Some builders and residents are in support of the proposal, but because of numerous voiced concerns, an environmental study is being conducted before a decision is made.
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“Opening Cahaba Beach Road… exposes the Cahaba watershed to potential assault from traffic and more pollution from increased dirty storm water and possible accidental toxic spills,” said Crawford. “Watersheds that are the source of drinking water are held by federal law to a higher standard of protection than are non-source sites. The Cahaba source watershed is one of the last pristine areas of solace enjoyed by many citizens.”
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Ultimately, their goal for the future is to restore the Cahaba River to its former state alongside a supportive government of officials who treat our local diverse habitats with as much care as the concerned riverkeepers and citizens of the future do before it’s too late.
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“Today, too many of us live for the now, for me, what can I get now for me,” said Crawford. “I suppose it’s ok if we chose to continue to be so disrespectful for what the Creator has given into our protection. If we fail at our task, this small blue planet will continue to be here. Just, we, the people, won’t be.”