The Most Endangered Rivers In America

It should (hopefully) come as no surprise to you that the Earth is in trouble. Climate change, pollution, and many other environmental issues are leading us into catastrophe. Some of the more obvious and destructive problems make headline news – like the increasing number and power of hurricanes or the fact that half the United States is now on fire every summer.

But there are plenty of very serious environmental issues that cause dire but quieter and more local problems. So it often is with rivers. There are enough rivers in serious trouble that the nonprofit American Rivers organization releases an annual Top 10 list of the most endangered ones in the United States. Many of those that make the list are small enough that those who don't live in the same state have probably never even heard of them. But each and every one is vital for their local ecosystem, and the loss of any of these rivers could have huge consequences for people and animals alike.

Here are the most endangered rivers in the U.S.

You probably don't hear "Los Angeles River" and assume it's something beautiful. And it decidedly is not. Coming in at #9 on the American Rivers' most endangered list thanks to "inadequate management, climate change, and pollution," the organization explains it barely even looks like a river, since most of the waterway is lined with concrete.

As for the pollution, it's really bad, so much so that even experts quizzed by LAist can't agree on if you can safely eat any fish you catch there. "It's an enter at your own risk situation," Marissa Christensen, the executive director of Friends of the L.A. River opined, while Fernando Gomez, a river ranger for the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority says, "It's a personal choice," but that "folks have told me they're really good eating." Melissa Von Meyerhauser, the watershed programs manager at L.A. Waterkeeper, is unequivocal though: "It would not be a good idea to eat them given what we know about pollution levels," she said.

What kind of pollution are we talking about in the river running through the third biggest city in the U.S.? LAist lists "trampolines, rolled up carpets, a dirt bike, 1980s-era computers, flip phones, and lots and lots of shopping carts." Basically, if it's something you can use and disposed of, it's there. "The river is really a reflection of our society, especially in terms of the trash that we find," Meyerhauser explained. There is some good news, though. "We have not found dead people as of yet, luckily," she said.

American Rivers lists the Lower Kern in California as the seventh most endangered river in 2022, thanks to "excessive water withdrawals." But unlike with the San Pedro River, which is in trouble because the booming population in its area needs water in its houses, the Lower Kern is being drained to grow crops. By the time the river makes it to Bakersfield in the San Joaquin Valley, it – well, actually, that's the problem. The river doesn't make it to them anymore, so what they have is a "dusty, lifeless riverbed" where it used to be.

The problem lies in the fact that water, even in a naturally forming river, has become a commodity. According to the Water Association of Kern County, various state and local bodies have taken each other to court for decades in order to get more of that sweet H20. And the rights that were parceled out in the first place weren't exactly based on fairness. A lawyer for various environmental groups in recent suits, Adam Keats told the Los Angeles Times that the river is drying up because of "water rights that are legacies from a period long ago that was founded upon theft, oppression, and ripoff."

Two lakes have already disappeared thanks to the water withdrawal. Activist Miguel Rodriguez told the paper, "It's sad to think that we're allowing our natural resources to be taken away to that degree where it's killing the environment, it's killing the natural process of our land, the watershed."

The Coosa River runs through Alabama and Georgia. American Rivers places it as the #5 most endangered, due to severe pollution caused by businesses along it banks.

The non-profit Coosa Riverkeeper differentiates between the chemicals dumped in the river that are "toxic" and those that are "harmful." When it comes to the former, the biggest contributor to the 1 million pounds of toxic chemicals that end up in the river every year is almost completely down to the actions of one company: Koch Foods. Two of their chicken processing plants are responsible for an astonishing 95% of that kind of pollution. However, when it comes to the "harmful" chemical category, it's the Gaston Steam Plant in Wilsonville and the Resolute Forest Products Coosa Pines paper mill that is by far the biggest problem. In theory, the Federal government could fix this just by enforcing the Clean Water Act. For whatever reason, it doesn't, at least not near enough.

"Toxic chemicals in our rivers and lakes aren't just bad for the fish. Most Alabamians get their drinking water from our rivers," Coosa Riverkeeper founder and former executive director Frank Chitwood explained. "Removing these toxic chemicals from drinking water costs money that ultimately gets passed on to ratepayers. Industries should not be allowed to externalize their cost of doing business onto the people of Alabama in the form of toxic pollution." In other words, polluting saves the companies money, which ruins the river, and then it's the government's job to clean up their mess – using your tax dollars.

While you might not have heard of it, American Rivers explains that the Mobile River in Alabama is a lot more important than you'd think: It holds 14% of all the "flowing freshwater" in the U.S. That means anything that makes the water dangerous or affects the ecosystem around it will have an outsized effect.

What makes the fact that the Mobile River is at #3 on American Rivers' list of most endangered is that it is due to decisions by the government of the state of Alabama not to protect it. While the organization lists "pollution" as a somewhat vague reason for the danger to some other rivers on the list, when it comes to the Mobile River's problem, it is much more specific: coal ash. The non-profit Mobile Baykeeper explains the culprit is the James M. Barry Electric Generating Plant – known as Plant Barry – which piled its coal ash in pits along the river.

As Jonathan Levenshus, the Sierra Club's Director of Federal Energy Campaigns, warns, "Coal ash pollution is a serious public health crisis; it poisons the water that communities rely on. Plant Barry's coal ash ticking time bomb is an example of what happens when regulatory agencies like Alabama Department of Environmental Management focus on protecting industry instead of the communities they are supposed to serve." In this case, environmental racism is a factor as well, since many of the areas near the river that are most affected are communities of people of color.

There are actually two Colorado Rivers in the U.S., and confusingly, one of them runs through Central Texas. But the #1 spot on American Rivers' endangered list goes to the more famous one, the one that actually flows through, among other states, Colorado. Famous around the world thanks to its association with the Grand Canyon, the river is in serious trouble. The Colorado isn't just for kayaking down and enjoying the scenery: it is vital to supply drinking water to tens of millions of people, to mention irrigate millions of acres of farmland. But climate change, as well as "outdated management," is imperiling all of that.

David Bennett, director of water resource strategy for Denver Water, explained, "For so long, these issues on the river seemed more distant. But as the long-term drought within the Colorado River Basin continues, it's now become one of the biggest challenges we've ever faced."

Its fame could be something that helps the Colorado River get more attention for its plight than other lesser-known rivers. While the problems might be local, scientists everywhere can connect with the beautiful images they have seen of the river flowing through the Grand Canyon. "This used to be more regional," John Entsminger, general manager of the Southern Nevada Water Authority, told KUNC. "Maybe occasionally a national story. But we saw people discussing the Colorado River as a case study in Glasgow." With so many eyes on the problem, hopefully, something will actually be done.