Savannah Riverkeeper's Veterans for Clean Water program (VFCW) is an unprecedented combination of water quality work — and an effort to provide veterans with meaningful opportunities for skill development and volunteering. VFCW has a highly-trained network of water defenders making a difference in our own watershed. To support the program by charitable donation through this project or to sponsor a VFCW site sign through your organization or business. More than 22 boat landings and other locations frequented by swimmers, boaters, and fishermen will be tested weekly from May through September. Sponsor a test site for one year for $500 and be recognized with your logo on a VFCW sign, on Facebook (live reports from your "site"), and on Savannah Riverkeeper's website. Reach out to us to learn your nearest site, and how to give or get involved at 706-826-8991!
VFCW Mission
Every day our local rivers and streams are used for fishing, swimming, drinking, and other recreation. But is the water clean and safe? That question is sometimes hard to answer. Without adequate testing, citizens are often in the dark about what's in their water. Even though chemical and bacterial pollution can cause illness in people, contamination in fish and wildlife, algae growth and other problems, spurring governments to develop stronger monitoring programs is often challenging, with environmental agencies at all levels facing tight budgets. That's where Savannah Riverkeeper — and VFCW — come in.
VFCW Program
Meanwhile, there is an estimated population of more than 300,000 veterans who live in the Savannah River Basin, many of whom are in need of assistance or opportunities for transitioning back into the workforce and civilian life after service or deployment. Savannah Riverkeeper's Veterans for Clean Water initiative addresses both needs within our community, offering participants the opportunity to get in the field and put their skills to use to defend our waterways. With veterans as leaders, we are developing a network of volunteers to conduct water quality testing in the Savannah River watershed and communicate results to the public.
Using the mobile app Swim Guide, we let people know when their favorite spots are safe for swimming, fishing and more. The program pairs up our mission to respect, protect, and improve the Savannah River with an effort to provide opportunities to veterans for community involvement, on-the-water experience, and field training in water sciences and other technical skills. We believe that those who have served our country have courage, leadership, sense of duty and teamwork that makes them uniquely qualified to be stewards of our most precious resource.
Every year, Americans make two billion trips to roughly 4,000 beaches and waterways for swimming, fishing, boating, and other recreation. But many of our favorite places are threatened by stormwater runoff, sewer overflows, spills and illegal pollution, and without current, reliable data about water quality, people are vulnerable to illness and infection. Fortunately, most of these cases could be avoided with adequate notification. Using the Swim Guide smartphone app and website, we tell you where your closest beaches and recreation spots are, which ones are open for swimming, and which have problems or unreliable monitoring data. Because every person should be free to swim in public waterways and never worry about health risks.
