Around the country, municipalities, stormwater agencies and their partners are developing creative solutions to close the resource gap. Stormwater credit banks and trading programs provide compliance flexibility while bringing private capital and property into the solution mix. Optimized grant programs can target priority outcomes and align with other funding sources. Public-private partnerships and pay-for-performance contracting models can bring private sector financing to bear. “Green bonds” match environmental and community benefits to public expenditures.
These solutions also open the possibility of developing projects on private property. When private property owners can contribute to, and benefit from, municipal green stormwater infrastructure programs, limited public funding and resources can be leveraged to create multiple benefits for clean water and communities.
As climate change continues to roll out new and increasingly unpredictable conditions all over the country, it’s becoming clear that, for some communities, water scarcity is a problem that isn’t going to be solved when the weather “goes back to normal.” This is especially true when extremes of flood and drought are compounded by landscape urbanization, water use and outdated infrastructure. How do we solve seemingly insoluble environmental problems like these through partnerships and collaborations forged at home, in our communities, watersheds and local governments?
In Georgia, American Rivers and our partners are working on these challenges in the upper Flint River, whose headwaters spring up just north of Atlanta’s international airport—the busiest airport in the world—and flow to the Fall Line of central Georgia between Macon and Columbus. Since 2013, American Rivers has convened the Upper Flint River Working Group, a voluntary collaborative of diverse partners who share the same vision for this watershed: to maintain a river system healthy enough to support the various social, ecological, recreational and economic benefits the upper Flint River system provides. These include water supply, recreation, fisheries, property values and a healthy river ecosystem, to name a few. The Working Group is made up of the leadership of all the large water utilities in the upper basin, local conservationists, non-profit conservation organizations, and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport staff.
Arguably more than any river in the Southeast—or even the eastern United States—the Upper Flint is suffering the strains of water scarcity. Since 2000, the river basin has experienced four major droughts that have caused alarmingly low river river flows: 30 to 50 percent lower than anything seen in the 20th century, even during the driest times. During these dry periods, the upper Flint shrinks to a trickle, signaling the river system is less resilient to drought conditions than it once was. This makes the upper Flint a good place to dig deeper into a collaborative approach to addressing the challenges of water scarcity.
After five years of working together, the Working Group developed Ensuring Water Security for People and Nature, a report outlining the group’s progress and the inroads it’s made into addressing water security and drought resilience in the basin, both for the ecology of the river and the communities that depend on the river for water supply.
The report, published in March 2019, has three purposes:
- To document the five-year history of the Upper Flint River Working Group, where dialogue and collaboration have led to key achievements and successes. These successes include new water infrastructure that returns more water to the Flint and protects major tributaries from extreme low flows, initial improvements to reservoir management on the county level, new research performed by municipal governments into regional water supply dynamics, and green stormwater infrastructure installed at the Atlanta airport.
- To publish the group’s consensus-based goals for managing the river system in the future.
- To share future plans for actions to improve water availability for people and nature in the basin, such as pursuing water efficiency and conservation, further improving reservoir management, utilizing green infrastructure at multiple scales to manage urban runoff, and protecting lands that support healthy flows in the Flint.
As Working Group participants have gained an increased awareness of the critical nature of drought flows in the upper Flint, they have chosen to emphasize and accelerate the implementation of projects that support mutual goals of the group. All these projects—and more on the way—will improve drought resilience and water availability for people and nature in the upper Flint basin in the future. Going forward, the Working Group also plans to collaborate with additional river stakeholders and with scientists researching the upper Flint who can help improve our collective understanding of environmental water needs and hydrologic trends in the basin.
In addition to restoring healthy flows and drought resilience to the Flint River, American Rivers and the Upper Flint Working Group are testing a process as much as a product. We’re hopeful that further success in this voluntary, collaborative process for addressing shared water resources can help inform the way communities nationwide approach 21st-century water scarcity and security challenges.
Water is the first medicine– the foundation for all life. Water is our first home, our teacher, our relative, our responsibility. Indigenous people have been leading the charge as water protectors since time immemorial. The Indigenous peoples of southeastern Pennsylvania, including the Lenape, recognize the sacredness of water — through ceremony, language, and everyday treatment of their surroundings. Indigenous peoples care for and respect the land and water as relatives and their responsibility. They pass on skills to their communities important on both shore and water, ensuring each generation understands their inherent relationship with the water that provides for all their needs.
American Rivers, in collaboration with the Widoktadwen Center for Native Knowledge and Berks Nature, has developed this brochure focused on sharing an Indigenous perspective on water and rivers to illustrate the importance of making personal connections to water and community. Ultimately, we all play a role in healing our relationship with our rivers and providing our communities with a healthy environment in which to thrive.
American Rivers and the Hydropower Reform Coalition are proud to present the Practitioner’s Guide to Hydropower Dam Removal. This is a comprehensive guide for dam owners and practitioners on removing hydropower dams regulated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). Removing dams is a common practice and a good option for dam owners or licensees who determine that the expense of ownership is too great relative to the benefits provided by their dams.
While most hydropower dams continue to serve an important purpose by generating power, many – both publicly and privately owned – have reached the end of their useful life. Those dams can pose public safety risks, impact fish and other aquatic life, and become costly liabilities to their owners. Many are not profitable or require costly repairs and upgrades that push dam owners and licensees to consider removal.
Did you know?
- 46 FERC-regulated hydropower dams have been removed in the U.S. This is fewer than 3% of all dam removals.
- Most hydropower dam removals are initiated by dam owners and stakeholders during the relicensing process.
- A 2020 survey of hydropower licensees found that 30% of dam owners are considering decommissioning and removal instead of relicensing their projects.
- Economics is the primary reason that licensees and dam owners are choosing to remove their projects.
- 1,243 dams have failed or required emergency action to prevent failure. Dam removals can be permanent solutions to dam safety.
The guide covers the complex issues of license surrender, decommissioning, and dam removal processes for hydropower dams. In addition, the guide has twenty-one case studies on selected projects to inform future hydropower dam removals.
American Rivers staff, the Hydropower Reform Coalition Steering Committee, and external partners contributed to this document.
For additional information on dam removal, visit https://www.americanrivers.org/river-restoration-training-resources/
For additional information on hydropower reform and the licensing process, visit https://hydroreform.org/ or https://www.river-management.org/hydropower-licensing-101
Across the nation, municipal stormwater managers face financial burdens as they work to manage stormwater flows that jeopardize the health and safety of communities and the availability of clean water. Decreased federal funding for stormwater management in recent decades has resulted in local communities shouldering most of the rising costs to protect the nation’s water resources. This report examines the opportunities the private sector and non-traditional partners can provide to improve efficiency for municipal stormwater managers in meeting regulatory obligations, fostering watershed collaboration, and engaging public participation in reducing stormwater runoff.
Within the Delaware River Watershed, the State Revolving Funds have financed critical water infrastructure investments and upgrades, from drinking water treatment and distribution to the construction of wastewater treatment systems, stormwater management, and conveyance, and in recent years, green stormwater infrastructure and control of nonpoint source pollution. These investments have been crucial to ensuring access to basic drinking and wastewater services. They have also reduced pollution to the Delaware River and paved the way for a historic cleanup that has secured drinking water for millions of people and ensured nearby river access for some of the East Coast’s largest urban centers. Although the cleanup driven by these investments has been very successful, there are still deep disparities among the communities living in the watershed in who has access to clean and affordable water and a healthy environment.
In 2021 American Rivers, with the Water Center at the University of Pennsylvania, set out to evaluate how financial assistance has been historically awarded to those that apply to the State Revolving Funds within the Delaware River Watershed. The goal of this work was to explore opportunities for more green and equitable investments in water infrastructure, with an emphasis on evaluating historic access to clean water investments as a means of assessing future needs for access and advocacy.
For more than thirty years, the Clean Water State Revolving Fund has been a critical funding stream used by local governments and utilities for the cleanup of water quality in rivers across the United States. Following the 2022 infusion of federal infrastructure funding, this program (which is implemented a little bit differently in each state) now offers transformational opportunities to communities challenged by historic disinvestment, environmental degradation, and climate change.
This guide clarifies key tenets of the Clean Water State Revolving Fund and provides guidance to municipal and utility staff on how to access the funds available through the program for green, climate-resilient projects that help protect and restore our nation’s rivers.
Life Depends on Rivers℠. Rivers across America provide our drinking water and sustain our growing communities. Streams, rivers, and creeks not only power our recreational economy, but also serve as critical habitats for fish and wildlife. Healthy rivers can provide cities and towns with natural barriers against the worst impacts of climate change.
Yet worsening floods and drought, infrastructure that is aging to the point of failure, and human-caused destruction of rivers are putting clean drinking water and communities’ safety at risk — and threatening thousands of wildlife species. Meanwhile, climate change, pollution, and environmental degradation are proportionately harming Communities of Color, Tribal Nations, and people in poverty.
To continue building a better world for our communities, we need to ensure federal funding is responsive to the challenges ahead. With the recent investments made possible by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act, the annual appropriations process can continue to support rural areas, Communities of Color, and Tribal Nations.
We ask Congress and the Biden administration to support a strong River Budget ahead of the President’s Budget and the Fiscal Year 2025 appropriations process.
Our federal agencies require the tools, resources, capacity, and technical assistance to maximize funding efficiencies and improve effectiveness. Today, we need prolonged and sustained investments to remove dangerous dams, restore floodplains, and protect vital habitat for fish and wildlife. The Fiscal Year 2025 River Budget outlines our commitment to advance federal priorities overseen by the Department of Interior, Department of Agriculture, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and Environmental Protection Agency. The federal spending priorities also take proactive measures to
curb water pollution and mitigate the impacts of climate change.
Key priorities in the Fiscal Year 2025 River Budget:
Promote climate-smart agriculture: Climate change poses an existential threat to agricultural producers, landowners, and farmers, whose livelihoods rely on healthy rivers. In partnership with farmers and ranchers, we can build up resilience and regenerate ecosystems to improve irrigation, bolster agriculture, and improve croplands’ ability to capture and store carbon.
Enhance water infrastructure: More than two-thirds of our drinking water supply comes from rivers. America’s network of water systems provides communities with safe, reliable, and affordable clean water. Every dollar invested in water infrastructure generates $2.20 in economic activity. Advancements in nature-based solutions and water equity can begin to tackle aging or deteriorating pipelines in communities with the greatest needs.
Protect watersheds: Every person in our country lives within a watershed comprising an intricate system of rivers, lakes, and smaller streams. Healthy watersheds clean our drinking water supplies, support recreation like fishing and hunting, and stabilize soils. In 2022, outdoor recreation generated $1.1 trillion in economic output and 5 million jobs, accounting for 2.2 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product.
Improve flood management: Today, nearly 41 million people live in flood-prone areas. Inland and coastal communities, particularly in disadvantaged and rural areas, need relief as environmental pressures and natural disasters, including hurricanes and floods, threaten people and property. Investments in flood management solutions can safeguard rivers and protect vulnerable homeowners and businesses.
Remove and rehabilitate dams: Dams disrupt the natural ecosystem by impacting water quality, cutting off migration routes, isolating habitats, and destroying fish spawning grounds. Some dams pose significant and serious public safety risks to people and surrounding communities. Prioritizing funding to remove, rehabilitate, and/or retrofit dams is the best way to bring life back to damaged rivers and protect communities. The annual appropriations process charges Congress to work with the White House to focus federal investments on priorities that make a meaningful difference in people’s lives. Now more than ever, we need to continue to sustain and support key federal programs that improve rivers across America, deliver economic benefits, and improve agency programs that are responsible for and responsive to our communities’ needs.
We urge Congress and the Biden administration to support a strong River Budget as we prepare for the release of the President’s Budget and the Fiscal Year 2025 appropriations process.
For questions, contact:
Jaime D. Sigaran, Associate Director, Policy, and Government Relations
jsigaran@americanrivers.org
Ted Illston, Vice President, Policy and Government Relations
tillston@americanrivers.org
