Carpet Industry Supports Annual Conasauga River Clean Up: Werner Braun

Rolling On a (Carpet) River: Carpet Industry Supports Annual Conasauga River Clean Up

In his October 1 column titled "Let's clean up the Conasauga" for Dalton’s Daily-Citizen Carpet and Rug Institute President Werner Braun talks about the 16th Annual Conasauga Watershed Cleanup that took place Saturday, Oct. 23.

Northwest Georgia’s Conasauga River is a very important resource for the carpet industry. For starters, it is the main source of water supply to the industry in the Dalton area, which is where 80% of U.S. carpet is manufactured. Secondly, it’s where Dalton’s drinking water comes from. From Werner’s article:

“The Conasauga watershed houses 92 different species of freshwater fish and numerous species of freshwater snails, insects, crayfish and more. One of the six most biologically diverse freshwater river systems in the United States, the Conasauga River supports 24 endangered species and a dozen other imperiled species, including the Southern Pigtoe mussel and the Conasauga Logperch, a fish found nowhere else in the world.”

The clean up is sponsored by the Conasauga River Alliance, a nonprofit organization made up of local citizens, conservation groups and representatives from local, state and federal governments. For more information, click on this link. 

According to its brochure, the alliance has also been actively involved in improving water quality in the Conasauga watershed through:

• Installation of more than 20 miles of vegetative buffers.

• Assistance to landowners with installation of poultry litter stack houses, dead bird composters, heavy-use feeding areas, stream crossings, livestock exclusion grazing systems and alternative watering sources.

• Assistance to homeowners with erosion problems, failing septic systems, vegetation control and stream bank stabilization.

• Education and outreach to private citizens and schools utilizing workshops, field days, in-school programs, river cleanup days and the alliance website (www.conasaugariver.net/).

• Partnering with the scientific community in propagating and reintroducing rare mussels into the river system.

“So gather up forces, carpet community.” Let's clean up the Conasauga!

Thanks, Werner!

~Bethany