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Riverkeepers from across the Carolinas met up in Conway, South Carolina, last week to touch base about issues facing their waterways and strategize how to address them.

Neuse Riverkeeper Samantha Krop and Pamlico-Tar Riverkeeper Katey Zimmerman joined members of Waterkeepers Carolina at the Cypress Inn on the Waccamaw River last Wednesday and Thursday.

“I think it’s really great to be able to get in a room and spend some time with Riverkeepers across both states and hear about what everyone’s working on and what can we work on together,” Katey said. “I feel very refreshed and reenergized afterward, because there are so many ideas being shared.”

In between walks on the Riverwalk and a pontoon-boat tour of the river, Riverkeepers gathered in the inn’s meeting room to divvy up which organization will write what pieces of North Carolina’s Triennial Review, in which North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality staff review current EPA guidelines, scientific data and public comments and make recommendations for any changes of the water-quality standards to the North Carolina Environmental Management Commission.

Samantha and Katey will be taking on the turbidity standards comments, as well as commenting on harmful algal blooms.

Katey, who compiled the 2024 Waterkeepers Carolina Swim Guide report, also led a discussion on what data should be included in future reports.

“We decided on a few more view metrics, including how many people use our data, so we can show the impact of Swim Guide that way,” Katey said.

Other discussions centered around longterm CAFO (concentrated animal feeding operation) campaigns and gathering organizations’ unfunded CAFO grant proposals and condense them into a single document to present to potential funders.

With the many changes currently happening at the federal level, Riverkeepers shared the effects on their own organizations.

“We talked about the political landscape and how everyone’s work is being impacted and grants that are going unfunded,” Katey said.

Waterkeepers Carolina holds meetings in the spring and fall of each year. Last fall, the meeting slated to happen in Asheville was canceled due to the devastation of Hurricane Helene. Many of the Riverkeepers, including Samantha and Katey, as well as Sound Rivers’ Stormwater Education Coordinator Sierra Stickney, used the opportunity to help with hurricane recovery efforts — specifically testing wells for contaminants.

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