The Georgia Water Coalition released its Clean 13 report for 2025 on Nov. 18. The report highlights individuals, businesses, non-profit organizations, and governmental agencies whose efforts have led to “cleaner rivers, stronger communities and a more sustainable future for Georgians,” according to a press release.
“From sustaining flows for farmers and mussels in the Flint River to stemming plastic pollution from urban streams, the entities highlighted in this report are developing innovative solutions to address some of Georgia’s most pressing conservation challenges,” Jesse Demonbreun-Chapman, executive director with the Rome-based Coosa River Basin Initiative, said in a statement. “People all across Georgia are doing their part. Our hope is that by telling their stories, we can inspire others to follow their lead.”
The work highlighted in the report includes:
Paddle4Tomorrow (Fulton County)
Paddle4Tomorrow, a non-profit based in Alpharetta introduces youth to hiking and kayaking experiences in local and state parks, operating on the philosophy that in order for future generations to take action to protect nature they must first know, appreciate and understand it. The all-volunteer group introduced some 300 children to Georgia’s natural world in 2025.
Park Creek Elementary School (Whitfield County)
When federally-protected fish were discovered in creeks on Park Creek Elementary School’s 67-acre campus in Dalton, educators, in conjunction with multiple partners, embarked on an effort to use the rare fish not only to teach children about wildlife habitat, but to restore portions of the campus to better protect the charismatically colorful fish known as the tri-spot darter. Students have transformed lawns into blooming meadows, removed litter from area creeks and propagated native plant seeds. Nearby Mill Creek is, thus, healthier for their efforts.
Baggett Elementary School (Gwinnett County)
The outdoor classroom at this Lawrenceville elementary school has transformed learning. The students there raise trout, chickens, rabbits, herbs and vegetables and study the workings of an on-site solar array to understand science, technology, engineering, arts and math. The goal is to create the next generation of problem solvers.
Partnership for Innovation (Fulton County)
At the college level, the Partnership for Innovation housed at Georgia Tech connects summer interns and university-level researchers with non-profit organizations working to protect Georgia’s water. The program creates more robust water protection programs in local communities and introduces students to careers in water resource and advocacy fields. In 2025, the program placed 103 interns representing 27 colleges at 50 organizations across the Southeast.
Lake Burton Civic Association (Rabun County)
At one of North Georgia’s most iconic reservoirs, the Lake Burton Civic Association maintains an active water quality and bacteria monitoring program to track and identify pollution on their beloved Rabun County reservoir. The work has propelled them into advocacy, fighting developments that might harm the lake and implementing educational efforts to encourage lake-front property owners to manage their land with lake health in mind.
Upson County Environmental and Governmental Transparency (Upson County)
In an example of citizens stepping up to fight for their community, residents of Upson County have coalesced around a battle to stop a proposed plastics recycling facility near Thomaston. Opponents argue that the controversial process to be employed at the plant does more harm than good in the effort to reduce plastics pollution. Led by a former Upson County commissioner, the Upson Environmental and Governmental Transparency group aims to stop the plastics plant and reform how local authorities broker deals with prospective industrial developments.
Don’t Spray McIntosh County (McIntosh County)
On the Georgia coast, citizens of McIntosh County triumphed in ending the practice of spraying herbicides to manage vegetation along the county’s road right of ways. Working with the county commission, advocates with Don’t Spray McIntosh County developed a right of way management plan that protects the county’s many streams and wetlands and has resulted in a blossoming of roadsides with wildflowers and teeming with important bee and butterfly pollinators.
City Serve Augusta (Augusta-Richmond County)
In the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, volunteers with City Serve Augusta became heroes by assisting dozens of families in Augusta-Richmond County with hurricane cleanup efforts. The work was a continuation of more than a decade of service projects that have benefitted the community and the Savannah River which flows through the heart of Georgia’s second largest city.
Georgia Flow Incentive Trust
In Southwest Georgia, where the farming community relies on irrigation from surface and groundwater and where water scarcity has threatened both farms and federally-protected aquatic species, the Georgia Flow Incentive Trust is finding solutions. Advances in water conservation, development of new water sources and extensive research into the area’s water resources is leaving more water in area creeks and rivers for both farmers and protected mussel species.
University of Georgia Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant (Chatham County)
On the Georgia coast, the University of Georgia Shellfish Research Lab on Skidaway Island is bringing oysters back. Thanks to the work of the lab, natural oyster beds along Georgia’s marshes are being restored while commercial oyster farming operations are thriving. More of the mollusks means cleaner water in estuaries and more delicious seafood.
Arcadis (Cobb County)
Arcadis, a multinational environmental engineering firm with offices in Atlanta, partnered with Chattahoochee Riverkeeper to develop a computer model that could be used to identify the best locations to place trash traps. These devices, typically placed in small urban streams, collect floating trash and prevent plastic and other litter from reaching rivers and oceans. The model is now being used in multiple locations across the country to strategically place trash traps.
REI Co-op (DeKalb, Cobb, Fulton, Athens-Clarke counties)
A major player in the outdoor recreation retail scene in Georgia since 1990, REI Co-op supports local non-profits with grants, product donations and a product loaner program that helps get first-time campers “in the woods.” Since 2022, REI has provided more than $500,000 to Georgia groups working to promote diversity among outdoor recreation participants and protect the state’s natural resources.
Okefenokee Protectors (Charlton, Clinch, Ware counties)
Finally, this year’s report recognizes “Okefenokee Protectors” who scored one of the state’s biggest environmental advocacy triumphs in recent years. In June, the Conservation Fund brokered a deal with Twin Pines Minerals to purchase the company’s landholdings adjacent to the Okefenokee Swamp, thus ending a seven-year battle to protect the swamp from a dangerous heavy minerals sands mine. The $60 million deal was funded by philanthropists, but the collective efforts of dozens of advocacy groups, key legislators and thought leaders and hundreds of thousands of citizens made the deal a possibility.
The Georgia Water Coalition publishes this list not only to recognize these positive efforts on behalf of Georgia’s water but also to call on state leaders and citizens to review these success stories, borrow from them, and emulate them, the press release said.
The Georgia Water Coalition is a consortium of more than 285 conservation and environmental organizations, hunting and fishing groups, businesses, and faith-based organizations that have been working to protect Georgia’s water since 2002. Collectively, these organizations represent thousands of Georgians.
The full report can be viewed online at:
https://www.gawater.org/clean-13-reports
