“In Georgia, it’s use it or lose it. If you don’t use waterways, you can’t show the public connection to water quality and it won’t improve. You have to use the river.”
Recreation for Restoration
Through recreation, we can publicly demonstrate to the Georgia EPD that the South River is a valued resource that deserves protection. SRWA focuses on two long-term recreation initiatives: Beyond the Bridge and the South River Water Trail.
BEYOND THE BRIDGE:
REcreational programMING
SRWA provides accessible recreational opportunities year round. Exploring the river’s hidden beauty fosters a personal appreciation that builds awareness and advocacy. Programming like our guided paddles, trash and tire clean-ups, and water quality sampling events take place throughout the year. We offer two 6.5-mile guided paddles along different stretches of the river, both children and beginner-friendly.
CHECK-IN every time you visit the river!
SOUTH RIVER WATER TRAIL:
PUBLIC RECREATIONAL ACCESS
The South River Water Trail (SRWT) is an on-going initiative to create the equivalent of a hiking trail for the river. Trailheads will provide parking and public access points for activities like canoeing, kayaking, paddleboarding and tubing.
Hundreds of acres of protected land buffers the river along the SRWT at Arabia Mountain National Heritage Area, Panola Mountain State Park, and the Monastery of the Holy Spirit. Located just southeast of the city, the SRWT will offer metro Atlanta river-based recreational opportunities far from the sights and sounds of urban life.
MANAGE WATER AS A RESOURCE
Fresh water is our planet’s most vital and threatened natural resource. It is critical to life on earth. Everyone needs water – individuals, communities, industries, governments – and everyone must do their part to protect it because the water we have now is all the water we will ever have.
The Georgia Environmental Protection Division (GA EPD) is responsible for managing the state’s water resources – creeks, streams, rivers, and groundwater.
According to the Watershed Protection Branch website the "Watershed Protection Branch manages water resources in Georgia through permits to local governments and industry to discharge treated wastewater and to local governments, industry, farmers and subdivisions for surface water and groundwater withdrawals."
Conspicuously absent from the above statement regarding the care of the most vital and threatened natural resource in Georgia, is the mention of people, recreation, wildlife, or the water quality necessary to support these habitats. There is no reference to the protection of Georgia's rich surface water environments.
Water quality will not significantly improve until people, wildlife, and the environment are valued as worthy of protection, as are municipalities, business, and agriculture, and this coequality is reflected in the duties and actions of GA EPD.
When FRESHWATER IS managed as a resource:
Water is valued as a natural amenity.
Rights of citizens to enjoy their waterways is acknowledged & supported.
Water quality is sufficient to sustain aquatic life and wildlife.
Water quality supports recreational use like fishing, paddling, and swimming.
AWARENESS & ADVOCACY
Decades of pollution have marginalized diverse communities along the river, endangering public health and causing residents to miss out on recreational use and socio-economic benefits and opportunities. Pollution of the watershed is not inevitable or acceptable. Together we are demanding that environmental regulations be enforced and that the condition of our public waterways be improved and protected.
Georgia is a "primacy" state meaning that responsibility for implementing the U.S. Clean Water Act is delegated to the state by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. This makes it the responsibility of the GA EPD to protect water quality in the South River and all Georgia waterways.
Awareness and advocacy are essential to improving water quality and ending unnecessary pollution. Increasing the public’s basic understanding of urban waterways provides a foundation for environmental action that can lead to shifts in public policy. Citizens have the power to impact the future of the river, the wildlife it supports, and communities throughout the watershed. Get involved and make a difference in the South River watershed!
SRWA President, Dr. Jacqueline Echols, and former Georgia State Representative, Bee Nyugen, clean up a stretch of the South River.
The South River can be restored through strategic action and collaboration. Let’s work together to give our river the protection it deserves.