Environmental Justice in 303(d) Program Implementation
A case study from Georgia’s South River
On March 29, 2021 at 2PM EST, Dr. Jacqueline Echols, Board President of the South River Watershed Alliance, will present a webinar on Environmental Justice under 303(d) and TMDL programs as part of NEIWPCC’s National 303(d)/TMDL Webinar Series.
The South River flows through two heavily developed municipalities, the City of Atlanta and DeKalb County. For decades, it has been on Georgia’s 303(d) list of unhealthy waters due to fecal coliform bacteria and PCBs from combined sewer overflows and stormwater runoff. Despite TMDL plans in place since 2002 to restore water quality, the river still does not meet the state’s lowest water quality standards. Communities of color bear the brunt of this ongoing pollution. For example, a federal Clean Water Act consent decree only includes a deadline to eliminate sewage pollution in the predominantly white sections of DeKalb County and has no deadline for eliminating sewage pollution in two-thirds of DeKalb County where most African Americans reside.
Register online for the webinar, which is free and open to the public. The webinar will be recorded and will be available online for those who cannot join March 29th.
Since 2016, NEIWPCC, through a grant from the EPA, has hosted a series of informational webinars for state, territorial, and tribal program staff working on pollution budgets in impaired waterways under section 303(d) of the Clean Water Act.
The webinars have featured presentations from a diverse array of experts on topics ranging from modeling tools to media relations skills. All previous webinar recordings, presentations, and supporting material are available in our archives. To propose a topic for a future webinar, submit an abstract here or contact Emma Gildesgame with ideas.
Please contact Emma Gildesgame with any questions or comments.
Presenter:
Dr. Jacqueline Echols has been the Board President of the South River Watershed Alliance (SRWA) in Decatur, GA for over a decade. She is an experienced environmental advocate with extensive experience working with diverse groups and organizations to achieve environmental goals. At SWRA, she supports community-based organizing and advocacy designed to give voice and raise community awareness concerning legacy water pollution issues affecting underserved urban communities in the City of Atlanta and south DeKalb County. She also works to develop effective partnerships with community, government, for-profit, and non-profit organizations in support of the goal to improve water quality throughout the watershed. In the past, she’s served as a spokesperson for Atlanta’s Clean Streams Task Force and as a member of the Atlanta Tree Conservation Commission.
