IT'S NOT EASY BEING GREEN!

Tennessee Riverkeeper cannot do this difficult work without you!

HOW TO REDUCE YOUR EXPOSURE TO FOREVER CHEMICALS

PFAS also called “forever chemicals”, are extremely hard to get rid of, and too many of them in your system has dangerous long-term effects, such as cancer and infertility.

Huntsville Utilities filed a lawsuit against 3M, Daikin and others after the chemicals were found in its raw water supply.

“If you’re drinking that water every day of your life, for day after day, week after week, month after month, then there’s reason to be alarmed,” said David Whiteside.

Whiteside is the Executive Director of Tennessee Riverkeeper, a non-profit organization that keeps the water clean for millions of Alabamians.

Whiteside applauds Huntsville Utilities leaders for taking legal action after PFAS were found. Tennessee Riverkeeper also sued 3M and others in 2015 when it found PFAS in Decatur.

“The biggest manufacturers of PFAS knew that this stuff was carcinogenic and extremely toxic, and yet they kept making it and bringing it out to market and profiting off of it,” Whiteside said.

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VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!

Get Involved and See More Concerts!

Click Here to Volunteer

WE NEED VOLUNTEERS FOR OUR OUTREACH PROGRAM! We need new volunteers to help us with outreach at concerts in Huntsville, Nashville and The Caverns in Pelham, Tennessee. Volunteers generally arrive at 5:00 PM and help our staff outreach coordinator set up the booth and talk to concertgoers. They are free to watch the concert when it starts. If you want to be on help us at one or more of the 18 concerts listed below, please fill out this form.

If you have any questions about volunteering, please email Brandon Hayes (staff Outreach Coordinator).

UPCOMING CONCERTS:

HUNTSVILLE, AL AT ORION AMPHITHEATER:

June 26 ~ T.I. and P$C

June 27 ~ Stephen Marley and Buju Banton

July 22 ~ Creed

August 6 ~ Tape B with Levity

August 18 ~ Goo Goo Dolls

August 23 ~ Parker McCollum

September 25 ~ Koe Wetzel

October 7 ~ Five Finger Death Punch

October 13 ~ Doobie Brothers

October 23 and 24 ~ Billy Strings

October 30 ~ Three Days Grace

PELHAM, TN AT THE CAVERNS:

June 5 ~ Claypool Gold (Les Claypool and Primus)

June 20 ~ The Church

June 27 ~ Osees

October 10 and 11 ~ Cave Fest

BIRMINGHAM, AL AT AVONDALE BREWERY:

June 18 ~ String Cheese Incident

Sign Up to Get Involved

HUNTSVILLE SUES 3M, DAIKIN OVER FOREVER CHEMICALS

Huntsville Utilities, in a new lawsuit, alleges that its drinking water has been contaminated with so-called “forever chemicals,” and it does not have the equipment or money to fix the problem.

NEW LEGAL ACTIONS

We have some new legal actions against polluters. Tennessee Riverkeeper has 9 active cases on our legal docket:

Alexandria, TN: On May 22, 2026, Tennessee Riverkeeper filed a lawsuit under the Clean Water Act against the City of Alexandria, Tennessee over sewage pollution.

Pollution from this sewage treatment plant enters Hickman Creek, a tributary stream of the Caney Fork River flowing through DeKalb, Smith, and Wilson Counties in Middle Tennessee.

The Caney Fork River is a multi-county waterway offers smallmouth bass, largemouth bass, and panfish opportunities in a relatively low-pressure stream environment. The creek provides wade-fishing opportunities in a natural setting. The Caney Fork River is a 143-mile-long tributary of the Cumberland River in Middle Tennessee. Famous for the frigid, crystal-clear tailwaters below Center Hill Dam, it is a premier destination for year-round trout fishing (rainbow, brown, and brook) and scenic kayaking.

Tennessee Riverkeeper vs Town of Alexandria

Filed 5/22/2026

Case NO 2:26-cv-00032

USDC Middle District of Tennessee

2741 days of violation

Nitrogen, Phosphorous, total suspended solids, BOD

The Town of Alexandria discharges into waters of the United States, namely, Hickman Creek, a tributary of Caney Fork and Cumberland River.

RECENT ENVIRONMENTAL HEADLINES

TENNESSEE: “Tennessee’s biggest coal ash site is polluting water. TVA plans to make it permanent”

ALABAMA: “Huntsville Utilities sues 3M, Daikin over PFAS contamination of drinking water”

NATIONAL: “EPA Takes First Step To Regulate Microplastics In Drinking Water”

Ernest Supports Clean Water with His New Album: DEEP BLUE

Ernest, a Nashville-born country musician and environmentalist, drops his aquatically themed album Deep Blue on May 1, 2026. A portion of some of the Deep Blue merch will support Tennessee Riverkeeper's Cleanup Program and our efforts to remove single-use plastics and other trash from waterways before it makes its way into the bottom of deeper waters, and then deteriorating into microplastics, which pollute waterways and negatively impact public health.

Crafting a twist-heavy verse style that’s become his signature, Ernest's songcraft carves out country’s sonic landscape, proving its mettle and earning him 13 #1 hits as a songwriter, including all-genre #1, “I Had Some Help” (Post Malone), as well as a #1 at country radio himself.

TREMENDOUS GROWTH ON SOCIAL MEDIA AND EMAIL LISTS!

Thanks to you, Tennessee Riverkeeper is growing as fast as ever on almost every social media platform. Our email list is growing faster than ever, thanks to concert tabling and the outreach program.

With your help, we will soon pass Chattahoochee Riverkeeper in Atlanta to become the 2nd largest Waterkeeper organization on social media overall out of approximately 300 worldwide. Not surprisingly, Hudson Riverkeeper is the largest. They started in 1966 and have more than 10 million people in their watershed, while we have approximately 6.3 million.

You help represent approximately 53,000+ supporters across Tennessee Riverkeeper's social media channels. We've grown by approximately 1,500 people on social media in 3 weeks.

Social media, the press, and this newsletter are very important methods for the organization to educate the public about water and the pollution that threatens our communities.

Please join us on these sites if you are not already, and please share and encourage your friends and family to join as well:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/tennesseeriverkeeper

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tennesseeriver

Threads: https://www.threads.com/@tennesseeriver

Blue Sky: https://bsky.app/profile/tnriverkeeper.bsky.social

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tennesseeriverkeeper

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TennesseeRiverkeeper/

X: https://x.com/tnriverkeeper

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/tennesseeriverkeeper/