Rough waters may be ahead for the Mobile Bay Basin.
The 2017 Most Endangered Rivers report named the Mobile River and Mobile Bay Basin as the fourth most endangered river in the country. The Mobile River System accounts for fourteen percent of all freshwater flowing in the United States. The Mobile Bay, its delta, and the rivers that sustain them are under threat, largely due to mismanagement of water resources along with waste and overuse of water.
Casi Callaway is the Executive Director of Mobile Baykeeper. She says that the lack of a statewide plan for addressing environmental concerns is the main reason why the Mobile Basin is considered one of the nation’s most endangered rivers.
“Without having a plan for how to protect those resources, without having a plan for how we are going to restore what we’ve broken over the past multitude of years, we’re gonna put ourselves more and more at risk and make it more and more difficult for industries and business in the community to thrive.”
The Mobile Bay Basin is often referred to as “America’s Amazon” due to the diverse ecosystems surrounding the river systems. Four of Alabama’s largest cities including Birmingham, Tuscaloosa, Mobile, and Montgomery, along with large portions of the Atlanta Metro, rely on the watershed for drinking water and wastewater assimilation.