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Although the Atlanta environmental advocacy nonprofit Chattahoochee Riverkeeper (CRK) prefers negotiation to litigation, in 1995, it sued the city of Atlanta for water quality violations polluting metro streams and the Chattahoochee River.
The 1998 consent decree committed the city to resolving violations and to developing and implementing a $3 billion sanitary sewer program that will operate for decades. This year, CRK expects 99 percent fewer sewer spills than a decade ago.
CRK founder Sally Bethea retires at year-end, but the 6,000-member nonprofit’s mission to protect and restore the Chattahoochee, its tributaries and watershed will – just like the river – keep rolling on.