One of the newest weapons in the arsenal of water quality protection efforts is Charleston Waterkeeper, a one-man watchdog operation on the lookout for pollution in local rivers, streams, and tidal creeks.
Cyrus Buffum is literally serving as our eyes, ears and nose, out on local waters day and night, looking for pollution and other environmental degradation that’s often out-of-sight and out-of-mind. Last fall he secured a charter from The Waterkeeper Alliance, a network of 180 independent groups globally, and today he looks for polluters, reports to the appropriate authorities, and, if necessary, pursues legal action to stop or mitigate the fouling activity. Cyrus has been busy organizing beach cleanups, supporting local efforts to remove abandoned boats from creeks and rivers, building relationships with other water quality stewards, making regular patrols, and oh yeah, raising money. To see Cyrus’ daily activities, “follow” him at www.twitter.com/ChasWaterkeeper
