Letter: MountainTrue follows the data on river’s health

Graphic by Lori Deaton

In Daniel Walton’s article about our State of the French Broad River Watershed report [“Streaming Data: MountainTrue Report Assesses Health of Region’s Waterways” Aug. 22, Xpress], Jen Ditzler, co-owner of Zen Tubing, accuses MountainTrue of a “conflict of interest” and cooking the data on the cleanliness of the French Broad River to boost donations.

Let’s set the record straight.

MountainTrue is a member-supported nonprofit whose staff and volunteers take samples from across four watersheds and report data on chemical, sediment and bacterial pollution. All of this data collection and analysis is done according to standard protocols developed by experts other than MountainTrue.

This work has been instrumental in getting Duke Energy to excavate its coal ash and put an end to its pollution of the French Broad River. Our monitoring programs have also helped us track down gasoline seeps and illegal piping of animal waste from farms, and led us on expeditions into the sewers below the River Arts District to track down a leaking pipe.

Is the French Broad River cleaner than 80, 50, 20 and even 10 years ago? No doubt. We should and do celebrate that, but we are not finished. My job as the Riverkeeper is to find and address ongoing pollution problems. I have to follow the data, and the data shows that, despite great progress, we still have a pollution problem on the French Broad and that it’s not always safe to be out on the water.

I would love nothing more than for the river to be so clean that I’m out of a job. But until that day, we will continue monitoring the river, reporting the data and working hard to stop pollution that makes the river unsafe.

— Hartwell Carson
French Broad Riverkeeper
Asheville

SHARE

Thanks for reading through to the end…

We share your inclination to get the whole story. For the past 25 years, Xpress has been committed to in-depth, balanced reporting about the greater Asheville area. We want everyone to have access to our stories. That’s a big part of why we've never charged for the paper or put up a paywall.

We’re pretty sure that you know journalism faces big challenges these days. Advertising no longer pays the whole cost. Media outlets around the country are asking their readers to chip in. Xpress needs help, too. We hope you’ll consider signing up to be a member of Xpress. For as little as $5 a month — the cost of a craft beer or kombucha — you can help keep local journalism strong. It only takes a moment.

About Letters
We want to hear from you! Send your letters and commentary to letters@mountainx.com

Before you comment

The comments section is here to provide a platform for civil dialogue on the issues we face together as a local community. Xpress is committed to offering this platform for all voices, but when the tone of the discussion gets nasty or strays off topic, we believe many people choose not to participate. Xpress editors are determined to moderate comments to ensure a constructive interchange is maintained. All comments judged not to be in keeping with the spirit of civil discourse will be removed and repeat violators will be banned. See here for our terms of service. Thank you for being part of this effort to promote respectful discussion.

One thought on “Letter: MountainTrue follows the data on river’s health

  1. don

    A heartfelt thanks to Mountain True and French Broad River Keeper for all your good work… and the State of the French Broad River Watershed report. As for Jen over there at Zen Tubing…. pretty obvious -except to the clueless tourists she caters to- whom has the baleful conflict of interest here. Really pathetic. A little E. coli never hurt anyone, right Jen? Jeez.

Leave a Reply to don ×

To leave a reply you may Login with your Mountain Xpress account, connect socially or enter your name and e-mail. Your e-mail address will not be published. All fields are required.