Winyah Rivers Alliance

Our mission:  to protect, preserve, monitor and revitalize the health of the lands and waters of the greater Winyah Bay watershed.

Our vision: clean water and healthy communities

Incorporated as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in 2001, Winyah Rivers Alliance is an alliance of Riverkeepers protecting our local Rivers for fishing, swimming and drinking. We educate to encourage stewardship of our River resources. We advocate to guard against threats to our clean water. We conserve our land and water for the benefit of our families and our future.

The watershed over which we watch is the Lower PeeDee Basin, identified by the United States Geologic Survey as Hydrologic Unit Code (HUC) 030402.

This large watershed represents a drainage area of 11,700 square miles and includes the Waccamaw, Lumber, Little Pee Dee, Lower Pee Dee, Lynches, Black and Sampit Rivers. Collectively these watersheds are referred to as the greater Winyah Bay watershed because all rivers ultimately discharge into Winyah Bay, the third largest watershed on the eastern seaboard.

Winyah Rivers Alliance hosts three RIVERKEEPER® Programs, licensed by WATERKEEPER® ALLIANCE:

The Waccamaw RIVERKEEPER® advocates for protection of our river’s watershed, implementing education and advocacy programs focused on this 1,640 square mile watershed in North and South Carolina;

The Lumber RIVERKEEPER® advocates for protection of the Lumber River watershed, implementing education and advocacy programs focused on this 1,750 square mile watershed in North and South Carolina.

The Black-Sampit RIVERKEEPER® advocates for protection of the Black River and Sampit River watersheds, implementing education and advocacy programs focused on 2,080 square miles of the Black River watershed and 165 square miles of the Sampit River watershed in South Carolina.

While we do not have licensed RIVERKEEPER® programs in our other sub-watersheds of the greater Winyah Bay watershed, we have active projects there with plans for expansion.