St. Johns River not on most endangered list, still threatened

Riverkeeper, JU professor still see threats

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A new report by the group American Rivers named the 10 most endangered rivers in the United States on Tuesday. Ten years after being on the list, the St. Johns River is no longer considered most endangered, but local environmental activists said it remains challenged.

The threat a decade ago was water withdrawals from the river that had been approved by Central Florida agencies and the St. Johns River Water Management District. For the most part, those haven’t happened, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t other challenges to the health of the river, including dredging and fertilizer runoff.

"It's still considered impaired, it's still a polluted waterway," Jimmy Orth, executive director of the St. Johns Riverkeeper said. "The good thing is in this section of the river, the main stem, we have started to reduce the amount of nutrients or nitrates that go into the river that are a big problem."

READ: 2008 News4Jax report on St. Johns River's endangered status

Because of that improvement in recent years, there isn’t as much of a threat to marine life in the river or salinity levels. But Dr. Quinton White, executive director of the marine science research institute at Jacksonville University, said despite again not being in the top 10, the St Johns River may be close. He said with the warm winter, we could be in for another year of major algal blooms.

"I think the take-home lesson maybe the similarities that exist between the St. John's and the rivers on the list," White said. "We need to learn from that and continue to take care of the St. Johns River."

One fear from the St. Johns Riverkeeper is that the growth in the area and demand for water will force the withdrawals that many expected 10 years ago. If that happens, we could see the St. Johns on the list again soon.

"We are going to have to make some major changes. The status quo, business as usual, isn't going to get us where we need to be with made some progress in, as I mentioned, nutrients but that progress is not where we need to be," Orth said.

The American Rivers list highlighted aspects most at risk by the 10 endangered rivers. Many had the water supply or clean drinking water listed. In this area, our drinking water supply does not come from the St. Johns, so that isn’t a concern with this river.

The Lower Colorado River which runs through Arizona, California and Nevada was the most endangered. The Mobile Bay Basin in Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi came in at No. 4 with a threat of poor management.


About the Authors:

Ashley Harding joined the Channel 4 news team in March 2013. She reports for and anchors The Morning Show.