NEWS BRIEF: Georgia river among most threatened in the country, study says
Coosa River suffers from nearby poultry farms
Photo credit: CL File
The national conservation group American Rivers has named The Coosa River in Georgia one of the most endangered in the entire country. The Coosa is one of the most biodiverse in the southeast, AR says, but waste and pollution from industrial poultry farms are causing severe damage to it and its tributaries.
The river, which runs 600 miles from Rome south to Alabama, was once home to the Muscogee and Cherokee nations, and currently supplies potable water for nearly one million people, as well as power generation, agriculture and ecotourism. Additionally, the Coosa River basin has the highest percentage of endemic species of any system in North America. 11alive.com