Georgia Rivers At Risk

Photo: Ocmulgee River (Pierre Howard)

Another year of extreme drought. At least four chemical spills in 18 months. These are among the recent headlines about Georgia's rivers and streams, and the potential health and quality-of-life implications for communities both up and downstream are serious.

Most notably, an incident in May on the Ogeechee River killed more than 38,000 fish, and people reportedly fell ill after coming in contact with the river. The responsible party, King America Finishing, recently signed a consent order with the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) requiring it to complete $1 million in environmental projects along the river. Because the company had concealed its illegal discharge pipe below the surface of the river for several years, the Georgia Conservancy was disappointed that the sanctions were not more severe.

Click here to learn more about the Ogeechee River fish kill.

In another important basin, Rayonier’s ongoing efforts to clean up the discharge from its paper products plant into the Altamaha River are now in their third year, with no noticeable improvement of water quality.

Click here to learn more about Rayonier's discharge.

The Georgia Conservancy strives to find common-ground solutions to the problems affecting Georgia’s environment. We recognize that budget cuts have greatly affected the ability of EPD to monitor thousands of river miles in Georgia. Therefore, we are proposing a statewide enhanced monitoring program that will provide data on both point-source and non point-source pollution.

Click here to read more about our idea.


Our quality of life is directly tied to the quality of our rivers. Do your part to help protect them.