View source for Waterkeeper Alliance

{{Short description|Worldwide network of environmental organizations}}
{{Infobox organization
| image = Waterkeeper Alliance Logo.png
| caption =
| size = 200px
| alt = Logo of Waterkeeper Alliance
| formation = 1999
| headquarters = [[New York City]], [[New York (state)|New York]], U.S.
| leader_title = CEO
| leader_name = Marc Yaggi
| leader_title2 = Co-Founders - Riverkeeper, Soundkeeper, Baykeeper
| website = {{url|waterkeeper.org}}
}}

'''Waterkeeper Alliance''' is a worldwide network of [[environmental organization]]s founded in 1999 that work to protect bodies of water around the United States and the world.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kiniry |first=Mike |date=2023-04-03 |title=We meet the new Collier County Waterkeeper, Ray Bearfield |url=https://news.wgcu.org/show/gulf-coast-life/2023-04-04/we-meet-the-new-collier-county-waterkeeper-ray-bearfield |access-date=2023-05-29 |website=WGCU PBS & NPR for Southwest Florida |language=en |archive-date=2024-08-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240807201851/https://news.wgcu.org/show/gulf-coast-life/2023-04-04/we-meet-the-new-collier-county-waterkeeper-ray-bearfield |url-status=live }}</ref> By December 2019, the group said it had grown to 350 members in 46 countries, with half the membership outside the U.S.; the alliance had added 200 groups in the last five years.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://allafrica.com/stories/201912110123.html|title=Kenya: Waterkeepers Take the Garbage Out of Rivers, Fight Polluters and Transform Lives|last=Mangat|first=Rupi|date=2019-12-11|website=allAfrica.com|language=en|access-date=2020-01-21|archive-date=2020-01-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200114111736/https://allafrica.com/stories/201912110123.html|url-status=live}}</ref> 

In 1983, the founding [[Riverkeeper]] organization, founded by [[Robert H. Boyle]], formed around the [[Hudson River]] in [[New York (state)|New York]], in response to the untreated [[sewage]] and [[Water pollution#Industrial wastewater|industrial water pollution]] that was degrading [[water quality]] in the river.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Revkin |first=Andrew C. |date=2000-04-16 |title=Savvy That Matched a River's Need |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/04/16/nyregion/savvy-that-matched-a-river-s-need.html |access-date=2023-05-29 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Today, Waterkeeper Alliance, founded by the original Waterkeeper groups including Riverkeeper, Soundkeeper and Baykeeper and [[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]] and based in [[Manhattan, New York|Manhattan]], unites all Waterkeeper organizations. The group helps to coordinate and cover issues affecting Waterkeepers that work to protect rivers, lakes, bays, sounds, and other water bodies around the world. In the United States, only 52 of the 180 groups cover watersheds west of the [[Mississippi River]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.westword.com/news/denver-south-platte-river-2019-cleanup-effort-update-11548531 |title=Brad Evans's Mission to Turn South Platte River From a Sewer Into a Gem |last=Roberts |first=Michael |date=2019-12-10 |website=Westword |access-date=2020-01-21 |ref=Denver Westword Dec. 2019 |archive-date=2019-12-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191211132515/https://www.westword.com/news/denver-south-platte-river-2019-cleanup-effort-update-11548531 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In June 2019, the group announced a project with online travel website Culture Trip called "Waterkeeper Warriors." They named 20 activists who “represent the impact one person can make on an issue that affects us all."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Specker |first=Lawrence |date=2019-06-13 |title=Mobile’s Casi Callaway honored as ‘Waterkeeper Warrior’ |url=https://www.al.com/news/mobile/2019/06/mobiles-casi-callaway-honored-as-waterkeeper-warrior.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230408133712/https://www.al.com/news/mobile/2019/06/mobiles-casi-callaway-honored-as-waterkeeper-warrior.html |archive-date=2023-04-08 |access-date=2023-05-29 |website=Al}}</ref>

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Official website|http://www.waterkeeper.org}}

{{Sustainability}}
{{Environmental social science}}
{{Environmental technology}}
{{Robert F. Kennedy Jr.}}
{{Portal bar|Agriculture and Agronomy |Environment |Ecology |Politics |Water |Wetlands}}

[[Category:Water organizations in the United States]]
[[Category:Environmental organizations based in New York City]]
[[Category:Water resource policy]]
[[Category:Environmental organizations established in 1999]]
[[Category:Water conservation in the United States]]
[[Category:1999 establishments in New York (state)]]
[[Category:Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]]