America's Endangered Rivers

August 31, 2010 at 1:25 PM by Steripen

America is blessed with thousands of beautiful and pristine rivers, lakes and streams. Every state has them, and millions of Americans enjoy them and rely on them every year. While most rivers and streams in state and national parks are healthy and safe to drink from after being purified by a portable water purifier like SteriPEN, other watersheds suffer from the threat of dams, diversions other mismanagement issues.

In June, the nation’s leading river conservation group, American Rivers, released its annual report on the country’s most endangered rivers. The rivers are scattered around the country in a variety of states including New York, California, Colorado, Oregon, Alabama and Iowa.

Some of these rivers aren’t at risk of pollution, but were put on the list because of possible plans to dam them or divert their waters. Others suffer from growing threats of pollution. Monongahela River in Pennsylvania and West Virginia is afflicted by natural gas extraction near its banks. The Upper Colorado River, Colorado is loved by fishermen, rafters and wildlife enthusiasts. However, water diversions have drained the river for years and continued mismanagement could doom the river. See American Rivers' list of endangered rivers here.

We've restored suffering rivers in the past, such as the famous Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, and hundreds of other rivers around the nation. It’s essential we maintain our lakes, rivers and streams for ourselves and our children, so we urge you to lend a hand your local communities and be aware of policies pertaining to your local watersheds.

The Environmental Protection Agency has a service to help you find clean-ups in your area: http://iaspub.epa.gov/Cleanups/index.jsp.

American Rivers has a list of action alerts to help save endangered rives: http://www.americanrivers.org/take-action/action-alerts/

They also have cleanup map to help you see where you can lend a hand: http://www.americanrivers.org/our-work/restoring-rivers/national-river-cleanup/volunteer.html

In any case, we hope you enjoy American lakes, rivers and streams during your last bit of summer!