We accomplish this mission through advocacy, education and protection. The Catawba Riverkeeper Foundation was formed in 1997. It is an award winning 501(c)(3) non-profit operating in the fourteen counties of the Catawba River watershed, flowing through North and South Carolina. We are a member supported organization with administrative headquarters in Charlotte, NC. We train and lead five locally based Covekeeper Programs on Lake Hickory, Lake Norman, Mountain Island Lake, Lake Wylie and Lake Wateree. Our Lake Norman Covekeepers manage an Island Keeper Program that  has removed trash from Lake Norman's 42 islands since 2002.  We are licensed by the Waterkeeper Alliance, Inc.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Gary Faulkenberry, Chair

Kathy Wilson, Vice-Chair

Gene Daniels, Treasurer

Teresa Woods, Secretary

C.D. Collins

Bryan Hartney

Rick Lee

Michael Lindsey

Merrie McGrath

ADVISORY BOARD

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

H.W. “Will” Close

Jackie Bagley

Philip Blumenthal

Donna Lisenby

Rolfe Neill

T.L. “Fountain” Odom

Lisa Renstrom

William L. Spencer

H.A. “Humpy” Wheeler

STAFF INFORMATION

CATAWBA RIVERKEEPER® FOUNDATION ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Here are a few of the things we have accomplished since we started in 1997:

2006

• Launched the fifth Covekeeper Program on the Catawba River with 21 Lake Hickory Covekeepers successfully completing our intensive environomental advocacy training course
• Appointed the first Lake Hickory Lakekeeper
• Senator Wes Hayes appointed Catawba Riverkeeper Donna Lisenby to co-chair and lead an ad hoc committee that will draft comprehensive water suppy regulations for the state of South Carolina
• Led eleven counties, eight cities, three Marine Commissions and the South Carolina General Assembly as they took action to oppose one the largest interbasin transfer requests in the history of North and South Carolina proposed by the cities of Concord and Kannapolis
• Our award winning Island Keeper Program achieved a landmark milestone, removing more than 100,000 lbs of trash from 42 Lake Norman Islands
• Lake Norman Covekeepers completed a three year development process and in partnership with Lincoln County governent have written a new county-wide sediment and erosion control ordinance

2005

• Advocated for the protection of our Catawba River water availability for the future by unifying basin-wide opposition to a 38 million gallon per day interbasin transfer petition under consideration in North Carolina 
• Provided personal and stakeholder team leadership in the Duke Power Hydro Relicensing Process to advocate for key objectives of shoreline preservation (riparian easements, buffers, and lands), restoration of the Great Falls of the Catawba, and more than $60 million in recreation and public access enhancements for the future
•  Achieved the timely designation of the Catawba River below Lake James dam as a trout stream, taking the issue to the NC Superior Court to overcome significant opposition
•  Featured in a nationally distributed documentary film called "Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price" The film chronicled our 2004 actions to have harmful substances to our waters stored and protected properly in area Wal-Mart stores 
• Established an Assistant Catawba Riverkeeper with a target of supporting existing and expanding the Keeper programs
• Instrumental in the establishment of a joint Catawba River Basin Commission by North and South Carolina legislatures to provide guidance and direction in managing the resource as "one river"
•  Successfully advocated to assure timely compliance with new Phase 2 cooling water regulations at the McGuire Nuclear Station.
• Protected Lake Wylie from further sedimentation through investigating and reporting violations by a major development that led to the removal of accumulated sediment at $50,000 expense to the contractor and fines in excess of $16,000. 
• Improved the appearance and health of the Catawba with leadership of clean-up activities in Lakes Norman, Wylie, Wateree, and Mountain Island Lake
•  Executed successful fundraising and public awareness events such as the Dammed Catawba River Challenge, Creations for the River, and an evening at the White Homestead
• Provided leadership and other resources to Covekeepers on Lakes Norman, Wylie, Wateree, and Mountain Island Lake 
• A successful independent audit of our financial activities for 2005 was conducted by Dixon Hughes PLLC

 2004

• Settled the lawsuit with Crescent Resources, creating a new 2900 acre state park on Lake James that will be protected from development into perpetuity and establishing even greater environmental protections for the remaining 4000 acres of developable land on Lake James
• Stopped Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, from illegally storing herbicides, pesticides and fertilizers in parking lots where rainwater was washing pollutants that cause birth defects and  other reproductive harm into public drinking water supplies of the Catawba River
• Appointed the first Lakekeeper for Mountain Island Lake
• Responded to and investigated fish kills and algae blooms on Lake Norman, Lake Wylie and Lake Wateree
• Discovered and stopped an illegal dredging operation causing the destruction of wetlands on Lake Wateree
• Began advocating for the restoration of the Great Falls of the Catawba River
• Led and executed the 2004 Clean Water Lobby Day
• Created River Guardian buffer award program to reward lakefront property owners who maintain exemplary buffer zones on the river
• Launched the River for Everyone campaign
• Settled the Delta Apparel lawsuit with a requirement that Delta reduce pollution levels by 85%
• In partnership with Carolina Sportslink, launched the Dammed Catawba River Challenge
• Investigated and reported on flooding issues caused by 3 Hurricanes hitting the Catawba River watershed in September 2004
• Conducted the 3^rd Annual River Sweep, picking up 10 tons of trash
• As a result of Riverkeeper pressure, Charlotte Mecklenburg Sewage spills down 38% from 538 sewage spills in FY 2003 to 350 sewage spills in FY 2004
• Filed a petition for rulemaking to have a supplemental trout designation added to the Catawba River below Lake James

 2003

• Led and executed the 2003 Clean Water Lobby Day
• Published two years of water quality research from our water quality monitoring program on the South Fork Catawba River and Lake Wylie
• Began a new water quality sampling study to determine the effects of a 1400 acre golf course community called The Palisades on the water quality of the Catawba River
• Launched the Boaters Right to Know campaign
• Conducted a door to door Community Education Initiative to raise awareness about sewage treatment plant discharges into Lake Norman and seek support for CRF’s work to phase them out
• Graduated 32 new Covekeepers for Lake Wylie
• Launched the Island Keepers Program , spent 219 man-hours picking up 9,040 pounds of trash from Islands on Lake Norman
• Created the Lake James Task Force to defend Burke County against the Crescent Resources legal attack
• Held the first ever Catawba River Romp and Eco-Kinetic Race
• Won the final decision on the wetlands rule case at the NC Supreme Court, defeating and finally ending a 7 year effort by business, industry and agriculture interests to weaken wetland protections
• Graduated 17 new Lake Wateree Covekeepers
• Deployed more members than any other conservation organization in the 14 counties of the Catawba River basin to  speak at public hearings in favor of making Catawba River Buffer rules permanent
• Successfully defended the Judges ruling rescinding the Hwy 150 sewage plant permit at the EMC final ruling level
• 17 CRF members became official stakeholders appointed to the 6 Duke Power Relicensing Teams that will negotiate the terms and conditions of all 11 dams on the Catawba River for the next 30-50 years
• Catawba Buffer Rules made permanent by the Environmental Management Commission 

• Graduated 7 new Mountain Island Lake Covekeepers
• Secured 42 Business Sponsors of the Boaters Right to Know Campaign

 2002 

• Won the Mid-South case at the Administrative Law Division level
• Secured 17 precedent setting water quality protection requirements for a massive commercial, residential and golf course development on Lake Wylie called The Palisades
• Successfully leveraged passage of The Palisades requirements and the Catawba River Water Quality Symposium to create a new county wide policy guiding future development in Mecklenburg county called the Water Quality Framework
• Took the Mid-South case to trial and provided expert testimony, research and data that supported the creation of new public policy in NC prohibiting discharge of sewage treatment plant effluent into recreational lakes where intensive public use occurs, if successful this case could set a new statewide precedent for protection of public health and water quality
• Established the third and fourth Covekeeper Programs on Mountain Island Lake and Lake Wateree, appointed a retired major from the NC Highway Patrol to serve as the first Lakekeeper for Lake Wateree
• Led and executed the 2002 Clean Water Lobby Day
• Created and led the Lake James Task Force to defend the new Lake James Land Use Ordinance passed by Burke county which is among the most protective of water quality in the state of NC
• Secured donations for and purchased a specially equipped water quality research vessel, the Rachel Carson for more intensive water quality research
• Investigated and verified numerous sewage spills from Charlotte Mecklenburg Utilities for which the state of North Carolina took no enforcement action and levied no fines, sparked in depth media coverage and revision of Charlotte’s sewage notification procedures
• Uncovered a malfunctioning sewage treatment plant that discharged raw sewage for 5 days and 5 nights before intense media coverage and collaborative efforts led by the Riverkeeper resulted in emergency orders by regulatory officials to decommission the plant
• Intervened in the Crescent Resources lawsuit against Burke County which seeks to strike down a precedent setting land use ordinance designed to protect water quality of Lake James and the Catawba River…Crescent Resources is a Duke Energy subsidiary

 2001 

• Advocated and secured protection of buffer zones on the main stem of the Catawba River by thwarting efforts of private property groups from the upper basin to derail the buffer rule making process
• Helped create, lead and execute a Clean Water Lobby Day bringing grass roots activists from throughout the state to the NC General Assembly to lobby on clean water issues
• Advocated and secured the most endangered rivers designation for the Catawba River from American Rivers
• Won the wetlands rule case at the NC appellate court level, defeating sustained efforts by business, industry and agriculture interests to weaken wetland protections
• Advocated for, and secured legislative passage of the most comprehensive revision and improvement of water quality standards throughout South Carolina in decades
• Negotiated statutory improvement to Mecklenburg county buffer zone regulations for Lake Wylie
• Won the phosphorus control case at the SC appellate court level
• Settled the MidSouth civil case in order to provide funding to continue the administrative legal action against the state of North Carolina and the new owners of the MidSouth wastewater treatment plant at issue
• Defeated efforts to build an eighty million gallon per day sewage treatment plant with 7 foot diameter raw sewage lines constructed in the flood plain of the Catawba River for over 20 miles
• Filed a motion to intervene with the Federal Energy Regulatory against the Duke Power Shoreline Management Plan for failing to provide adequate environmental protection, public recreation, water quality and aquatic life protection

• Investigated and reported raw sewage spills from Carolina Water Services, sparked 3 month investigation and inspection of 31 lift stations by the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control
• Advocated and secured new color control requirements for dischargers of textile mill dyes into South Fork Catawba River
• Created and led the Steele Creek Task Force in response to a four mile fish kill due to an extended raw sewage spill after a contractor blasted too close to a manhole, the developer and landowner were fined by over $10,000 by the state of NC and the maximum fine allowed by the state of SC, marking the first time fines for water quality violations were levied by both states and one of the few times anyone was fined for sewage spills in Mecklenburg county
• Completed a non-point source pollution control project in partnership with the SC Department of Health and Environmental Control, the Cooperative Extension Service and United States Soil Conservation Service
• Joined forces with Trout Unlimited, American Rivers, SC Coastal Conservation League, Real Running River Protective Society, Foothills Land Conservancy, and others to create the Catawba Wateree Relicensing Coalition, a stakeholder group to address the hydropower relicensing of the Duke Power dams on the Catawba

 2000 

• Participated in the state technical committee to develop buffer zone recommendations for the main stem of the Catawba River in North Carolina
• Filed legal actions against the Catawba River’s most notorious violator of water quality regulations, MidSouth Utilities
• Advocated and secured broad support for water quality, aquatic life protection, public access and environmental protection in the Duke Power shoreline management plan which impacts over 1600 miles of shoreline on the Catawba River lakes
• Helped lead an effort of diverse groups and individuals that created and secured funding for the Catawba Wateree Relicensing Coalition, an organization dedicated to providing a framework for citizen and local government participation in negotiation of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission license for eleven hydroelectric dams on the Catawba River
• Uncovered an illegal straight pipe from a Charlotte restaurant that had been dumping raw sewage into Lake Wylie for years, resulted in a $9000 fine
• Co sponsored or participated in numerous environmental education initiatives, such as the Lake Norman Lakefest, the Lake Wylie Lake Splash, Catawba Riverkeeper Day at Queen’s Landing, Earth Day Celebrations at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, the Schiele Museum, Anne Springs Close Greenway, and the Museum of York County
• Was the lead advocate on the Voices and Choices water quality action team and served as a catalyst for introducing the concept of integrated management resulted in passage of study bills in both the NC and SC General Assemblies
• Partnered with the Cooperative Extension Service to conduct a floating aquatic ecology classroom for Lake Wylie called 4H₂O Pontoon Classroom
• Uncovered and stopped a commercial port a potty business from dumping the contents of used port­­­ a potties into a tributary of Lake Norman
• Discovered and stopped leachate entering Lake Norman from a Lincoln County landfill
• Partnered with the Mecklenburg County Department of Environmental Protection to execute a lift station awareness campaign, resulted in significant upgrades of mechanical infrastructure and spill warning systems
• Uncovered and stopped a wastewater treatment plant illegally land applying sewage effluent in a residential community on the shores of Lake Norman

 
1999 

• Established the Catawba Riverkeeper General Counsel to take legal action on environmental issues in North Carolina
• Served as the lead environmental advocate for the establishment of buffer zones throughout the basin
• Filed legal action to defend North Carolina’s new wetland rules that were challenged in court by industry and agriculture interests
• Established a water quality research program by purchasing of state of the art water quality monitoring equipment and contracting with a research director, Dr. Peter Phillips, an aquatic ecologist at Winthrop University to manage the program
• Uncovered evidence that a major developer had knowingly installed a raw sewage lift station below the high water mark of Lake Wylie and submitted permits to the Corps of Engineers that grossly underestimated wetland impacts, as a result of evidence presented by the Riverkeeper, numerous stop work orders were issued and regulatory agencies levied a $78, 000 fine, the highest ever levied against a developer in SC
• Initiated intensive water quality monitoring of the South Fork Catawba River and Lake Wylie
• Established the second Covekeeper Program on Lake Norman, forty North Carolinians completed the year long training and selected Lakekeepers Jay and Selah Bunzey from among their ranks
• Provided technical assistance and political support which resulted in the establishment of buffer zones in York and Chester counties
• Provided presentations advocating the protection, preservation and restoration of the Catawba River to approximately 70 groups and 2000 people

1998 

• Created and secured sponsors for the first Catawba River Clean Water Platform, nine basic principles to guide future water quality policy, regulations, land use laws and enforcement for the Catawba River. Sponsors came from diverse constituencies including the Lake Wylie Chamber of Commerce, Trout Unlimited, the Agricultural Resources Center, and the Lake Wateree Homeowners Association
• Established the first Covekeeper Program on Lake Wylie, a trained citizen group that advocates for river preservation in their local communities
• Secured two boats and started regular patrols of the Catawba River
• Initiated the Riverkeeper Hotline which responds to more that 100 calls per year for assistance
• Uncovered the destruction of a 2.47 acre wetland, brought publicity and enforcement to bear, resulting in the developer being required to secure a $250,000 bond for restoration of the wetland and $28,500 in fines
• Tackled the South Fork Catawba River’s decades-old textile mill pollution problem by organizing downstream residents and preparing a federal clean water act case against the state of NC for issuing permits that violated water quality standards
• Filed legal action to defend South Carolina’s new phosphorus control requirements which were challenged in court by a coalition of seven sewage treatment plant operators

 AWARDS

• The 2005 Robert H. "Mac" McSwain Community Service award for outstanding community service to the Lake Wateree Community
• 2004 Best of Charlotte-Best Activists: Catawba Riverkeeper Foundation, Creative Loafing
• 2004 Environmental Organization of the Year-Community Organization-Lake Norman Covekeepers bestowed by Keep Iredell Clean for the Island Keeper Program
• 2003 Blue Fin Award conferred by  the Mountain Island Lake Marine Commission
• The Catawba Riverkeeper received the 2001 “Environmental Health Award” by the Mecklenburg County Health Department
• The Catawba Riverkeeper named Charlotte’s “Best Advocate – May ‘00” by Charlotte Magazine
• The Catawba Riverkeeper named “1999 Guardian of the Environment” by the Charlotte Observer
• The Catawba Riverkeeper was a recipient of the Charlotte Coalition’s “Blue Thumb Award” in 1998
• The Catawba River Foundation was a recipient of the Charlotte Coalition’s “Blue Thumb Award” in 1998
• The Catawba Riverkeeper program is the only environmental advocacy group to twice receive Creative Loafing's "Best of Effort to Improve the Environment" award two years in a row, 1999 and 2000