In the town of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, there is much revere given to the river that runs through it, the Black Warrior River. Many businesses and groups have used the name "Black Warrior" to gain a sense of familiarity with Tuscaloosa residents and students because of the river's immensity and notoriety. Despite the attention this waterway draws, there is a big issue, it is not safe to swim in. The same problem is shared throughout the state of Alabama by many different bodies of water due to the state's almost non-existent pollution screenings and regulations. Even for individuals not exactly worried about environmental protection, this should pose a big problem.

Al.com published an article stating that Alabama has more rivers and streams than 44 of the 50 states in the nation, but less than ten percent of this 77,000 miles of water have ever been screened by environmental officials according to Alabama Rivers Alliance and the Southern Environmental Law Center. These two groups then went on to draft the Alabama Water Agenda, which promotes updated protection laws for our state's rivers. Mitch Reid who is program director for the Alabama River Alliance in Birmingham stated, "we don't have that one concrete law that says the rivers and waters of the state are part of the public trust and need to be protected for future generations" according to Al.com.

As both a resident and a student in Tuscaloosa, Alabama this really troubles me. I have spent my entire life on the waters of this beautiful state and never once had the realization that they, or my own safety, may be at risk. For the Black Warrior, things have gotten so abysmal that a flesh eating bacteria has been reported to inhabit the water on more than one occasion. It is truly a sad day in the United States when the protection of industry (the main contaminators of the rivers) is put before the protection of our most precious and fleeting natural resource. Perhaps even more enraging than that is the fact that a person should not have to endure a flesh eating bacteria in water that is, by nature, intended to support life and has always been a necessary component for the sustainment of that life.

In my opinion, the main reason that the state government and industries have been able to continue carelessly polluting the states river's is the same reason that has caused the downfall of many other natural wonders in this county, nobody is doing anything to stop it. How much more can our fresh water systems endure until Alabama starts facing the problem many other states to our west already have, running out of clean drinking water. If you would like to know more or perhaps devote time to stopping this blatant disregard for both current and future water reliant life (basically all life) then contact the Alabama Rivers Alliances either on their website or in their Birmingham headquarters. A difference can and must be made if we want to enjoy our rivers and the abundance of diverse life they alone can support.