The Haw River Learning Celebration is a field trip to the Haw River for fourth graders each fall.  Since we began the program in 1990, over 48,000 students have participated.  Schools attend one of our three locations in Chatham, Alamance and Rockingham counties and spend a day doing activities along the river, enjoying a picnic lunch and concert together, and a special puppet show.

We’re planning to be back IN PERSON this fall for the 2022 Learning Celebration, our river exploration and education program for 4th graders in our watershed. It will be held September 17 – Oct 7 in Bynum, Saxapahaw and Camp Guilrock (near Greensboro/Rockingham boarder). We look forward to being together again!

Sign up to volunteer with us on the river here or if during the work week doesn’t work for you, you can donate a meal here! Learn more about the Haw River Assembly at https://hawriver.org/projects/learning-celebration/

It’s summer, and a great time to head to your favorite swimming, wading or tubing spot. We’re monitoring 4 favorite swimming places on the Haw River. We are still waiting for approval from State Parks to monitor at Jordan Lake this season. Sites get a green swimmer logo for SAFE and a red logo for UNSAFE based on E-coli counts. We publish the results each Friday in our E-newsletter or look for it on our website, or Facebook and Instagram pages. You can also subscribe to text updates by texting HAW to (844) 956-1139. Download the Swim Guide app for free on your smartphone.

Since the beginning of this year, MVP has continued to lose cases for required permits in court and to lose money. On January 25, the 4th Circuit published a decision vacating the Forest Service and BLM authorizations allowing Mountain Valley Pipeline to cross the Jefferson National Forest and in early February the same court invalidated the biological opinion and incidental take statement for MVP issued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service under the Endangered Species Act. MVP has also withdrawn their appeal of the Virginia Air Control Board denial of the air quality permit for the compressor station in Pittsylvania County, VA. In February, MVP”S backers registered an $800 million loss on the MVP mainline, an effort to lessen the tax burden on financial investments they expect to never recover. Without the mainline, MVP cannot build the Southgate extension into Alamance and Rockingham counties in NC. Read more at https://hawriver.org/river-issues/mvpsouthgate/

Settlement sets better process, public reporting, and reduction of Greensboro pollution

On behalf of the Haw River Assembly, Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) reached a settlement on December 18 with the City of Greensboro and North Carolina regulators that further limits Greensboro’s 1,4-dioxane discharges from it’s wastewater treatment plant, where industries are sending this chemical in their waste stream. HRA was joined by City of Fayetteville in this challenge, who draws their raw drinking water further downstream on the Cape Fear River. The settlement also requires the Department of Environmental Quality to investigate sources of toxic 1,4-dioxane pollution in the Cape Fear River basin, including the Haw River, and report actions it takes to reduce those amounts, including permit limits.

“Without these legal challenges brought by Haw River Assembly and City of Fayetteville, the original order would have allowed Greensboro to continue polluting the Haw River with higher levels of 1,4-dioxane, and with much lower penalties for extraordinarily high discharges,” says Emily Sutton, the Haw Riverkeeper. “The monitoring required under this agreement will identify the industries responsible for these toxic discharges in Greensboro and put the responsibility of safe and clean water on polluters, instead of the downstream users.”

Read the full SELC press release here. Here are links to the Final Settlement and the state’s Amended Special Order by Consent for Greensboro 1,4-Dioxane releases