Blog Posts Archives - Coosa River Basin Initiative

Breaking Down the Facts About Microplastics

September 28, 2023

Advocacy, Blog Posts, Education, Restoration, Water Monitoring

Imagining a world without plastics may feel impossible considering what a staple they are in today’s society, yet their large scale production and use only dates back to the 1950s. Since then, their production has surpassed most other man-made materials. It has been estimated that between the 1950s and 2015, approximately 6300 million metric tons of plastic waste has been manufactured, 60% of which currently resides in landfills or the environment, including our water. While many people have heard about…

The Importance of Macroinvertebrates

August 21, 2023

Blog Posts, Education, Restoration

What Are Macroinvertebrates? Macroinvertebrates serve as the ecological cleaning services in aquatic ecosystems. While the name may sound unfamiliar at first glance, Northwest Georgia is home to many macroinvertebrates you likely know, such as Crayfish, Mayflies, Dragonflies, Clams, Mussels, and more! While here these small and sometimes bothersome creatures may seem like little more than pests, they’re actually crucial to our rivers’ ecosystems. These organisms affect even our local water sources such as the Coosa River Basin and serve an…

Why Test for E. coli? Here’s What You Need to Know…

August 2, 2023

Blog Posts, Lake Allatoona, Water Monitoring

Written by Courtnee Davenport Every year, from Memorial Day to Labor Day, CRBI sends out dedicated field techs to collect water samples from 30 boat ramps, public beaches, and rivers from Weiss Lake to Allatoona Lake for Swim Guide. The goal for collecting these samples is to find out how much E. coli is present in these popular recreational areas. In order to help our community better understand what E. coli is, where it comes from, and why it matters…

CRBI Celebrates 30 Years With a Summer Giveaway!

June 30, 2023

Blog Posts, Events

2023 is CRBI’s 30th anniversary year! We’ve accomplished a lot for clean water across our 5,500 square mile river basin with the support of our dedicated members over the last 3 decades! You can read more about our history here. We want to continue to expand our community of members as we head into the next 30 years so that we can accomplish even more for river basin. That’s why we’re doing a membership drive for the month of July…

State Level Regulations Will Impact PFAS Usage

February 24, 2023

Advocacy, Blog Posts

In the summer of 2022 the EPA released new health advisories (HAs) for a chemical group known as PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances). These chemicals are widespread in the environment since they have been commonly used in manufacturing since the 1940s. They are used in the production of everyday items particularly carpet and textiles, non-stick cookware, food packaging, firefighting foam, aerospace, automotive production, construction materials, and electronics. The health advisory comes after mounting scientific evidence is proving that PFAS…

EPA Releases New Health Advisories for PFAS in Drinking Water. What Does it Mean for Your Health?

June 29, 2022

Blog Posts, Water Monitoring

On June 15th, 2022 the EPA released new health advisories (HAs) for a chemical group known as PFAS. The EPA’s health advisories are used by municipalities as guidelines for how to keep our drinking water safe and free from harmful chemicals and contaminants. Using the most current scientific evidence, they make recommendations for the best ways municipalities can protect public health. The group of manufactured chemicals in question, PFAS, has been under scrutiny for a number of years as research…