History of the Waterkeeper Movement

This is a landmark year for Waterkeeper Alliance our 10th Anniversary.

Our story started in 1966 when commercial and recreational fishermen, many of them veterans, united to save their river and formed the Hudson River Fishermen's Association. These fishermen recognized that outspoken, citizen-led advocacy was the only way to ensure that laws were enforced and their river, livelihood and the health of their families were protected. They took on many of the nation's biggest industrial polluters and won.

In 1983, they hired the first full-time Hudson Riverkeeper to patrol the river, to restore its abundant fisheries and to lead citizen-based enforcement of environmental laws. Since those early days, Hudson Riverkeeper has brought hundreds of polluters to justice and forced them to spend hundreds of millions of dollars restoring the Hudson to health.
Their success spurred an explosive growth of similar grassroots programs across the globe, and in 1999 Waterkeeper Alliance was founded to support these programs.

Today, Waterkeeper Alliance is among the world's fastest growing environmental organizations, with nearly 200 Waterkeepers patrolling rivers, lakes and coastal waterways on six continents. Our proudest accomplishment is the depth and breadth of our member organizations and the unity of their vision for clean water and strong communities.

Waterkeeper Alliance strives to expand our movement to 200 member organizations worldwide by 2010, including targeted efforts in Canada and the Amazon River Basin. There has been significant growth in India, Mexico, the Amazon, and South America, with 12 Waterkeeper Organizations in India, 8 in Mexico, and 13 in 6 South American countries.

In June 2008, environmental advocacy groups from Bangladesh and Nepal successfully applied to become the first Waterkeeper organizations in those countries, adding to our presence in Asia, where we already have programs in India and China.

Our Field Coordinator team has helped many prospective Waterkeeper organizations through the proposal process and has networked with a number of grassroots water advocacy groups both domestically and internationally. They currently are working with several strong prospective organizations in Colorado, Illinois, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and West Virginia, as well as Canada, Columbia, Ecuador, Japan, Nigeria, and Peru.

10 Years of Amazing Results

8,400 acres will remain natural wetlands in the heart of Meadowlands thanks to New York/New Jersey Barkeeper & Hackensack Riverkeeper's fight against developers

Thousands of endangered sea turtles in Baja California are saved because Punta Abreojos Coastkeeper's brought Baja's most notorious sea turtle poacher to justice

Nov., 2008: The Delhi High Court issued a judgment that any construction close to the Yamuna River that may have an adverse impact on environment would not be allowed for the Commonwealth Games 2010. India's Yamuna Riverkeeper fought construction of the Commonwealth Games Village due to adverse effects on the Yamuna floodplain

A state law requiring car wreckers to remove mercury switches from automobiles that was first passed through the work of Waterkeepers in New Jersey has been replicated in five other states

A lawsuit brought by Hudson Riverkeeper & Waterkeeper Alliance will force more than 1,000 power plants & industrial facilities around the nation to upgrade antiquated cooling technology & stop the killing of billions of fish each year

Waterkeepers in Los Angeles, Milwaukee & other cities replicated a multi-billion dollar lawsuit brought by the Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper against Atlanta for allowing illegal sewage spills

Oct., 2007:Waterkeeper Alliance key partners secured permanent protection for San Miguel Beach's vital sea turtle habitat & part of 3,200-acres of forests, wetlands, beaches & coral communities-known as the Northeast Ecological Corridor

Vigilantes de Bahia Magdalena (Magdalena Baykeeper) together with their legal counsel researchers halted a mega-resort development in a fragile Baja California coastal mangrove ecosystem after identifying grave potential impacts.

By working together and sharing these and many other successes, Waterkeepers around the globe can more effectively address local threats to their waterways. The accumulated success of our movement adds to the strength of local action-polluters know that the entire Alliance stands behind each of our Waterkeepers.

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History of the Waterkeeper Movement