"America's Most Endangered Rivers of 2025" highlights threats to 10 U.S. waterways. See the list.
Rivers are a vital source for drinking water, plant and animal life, and community, but across the U.S., many of the largest and most critical of these waterways — and the people and wildlife they serve — are at-risk due to pollution, poor flood management and more.
"Rivers are places where people's souls heal and where they can connect with others. But that doesn't underestimate how important it also is to recognize that rivers can also be a really scary place when mismanaged," said Heather Taylor-Miesle, senior vice president of conservation at the nonprofit American Rivers.
Growing up in Appalachia, Taylor-Miesle has seen how powerful and damaging a river can be when it unexpectedly rushes into people's homes. It's a terror many in Appalachia saw with Hurricane Helene in September and that Kentucky has seen in recent weeks.
"I don't think that you get over mucking out a basement," she said. "That is baggage that you carry with you the rest of your life."
But as destructive as rivers can be during flooding disasters, she said, "rivers are a great equalizer" — and that's exactly why she and American Rivers are doing everything they can to protect them. For the 40th year, the nonprofit has put out its list of "America's Most Endangered Rivers," a call to action that highlights some of the biggest threats to some of the country's most critical waterways that impact millions nationwide, and emphasizes what can be done to protect them.
"Just because you're rich doesn't mean you get to hang out at a river. Just because you're poor doesn't mean you get to hang out at a river," Taylor-Miesle told CBS News. "This is the place where everybody is welcomed, and I think that there's something special ... because that is something that can regulate your heartbeat, it can regulate your breathing, but it can also put you on a path to being able to keep going."
Ten waterways made up this year's most endangered rivers list, all facing a range of threats from increased flooding and inadequate disaster prevention and response, to pollution, aging infrastructure, logging, mining, border policies and more.
"Our water wealth is one of our greatest assets as a nation," Tom Kiernan, president and CEO of American Rivers said in a press release. "But pollution and extreme weather are putting our rivers, clean water, and public safety at risk. When our rivers our sick, our own health and prosperity suffers."
Taylor-Miesle told CBS News that while the U.S. has a lot of rivers — many of which need help — there are three characteristics that qualify them to be among the most endangered: a significance to people and wildlife, a high magnitude of threat and hope.
"People call it most endangered rivers. I think these are the ones that do bring me the most hope because we have the most immediate opportunity to make a big difference," she said. "Every one of these rivers are ones that you can find people, regardless of their politics, regardless of their background, thinking very strategically about how we advance the issue, how can we actually make progress."
These are the nation's most endangered rivers in 2025, according to American Rivers' latest report.
1. Mississippi River
Increased flooding and inadequate disaster response put this river, which runs 2,350 miles across 10 states, at the top of this year's list.
"The Mississippi is 'America's River,' flowing through the nation's heartland, providing drinking water for 20 million people and supporting vital agriculture, industry, and recreation," the report says. "But frequent and severe floods are threatening lives and businesses, while the river's health declines. Communities along the river need significant support for disaster prevention and response, as well as river restoration — but the fate of the Federal Emergency Management Agency hangs in the balance. The Trump administration should modernize FEMA to improve river health and maximize the safety, security, and prosperity of Mississippi River communities."
2. Tijuana River
The Tijuana River, which spans 120 miles across California and Baja California in Mexico, is facing the severe threat of pollution, according to American Rivers.
"This region ... has been plagued with severe pollution for decades," the report says. "Every day, millions of gallons of contaminated stormwater, sewage, harmful chemicals, and trash flow down the river into the Pacific Ocean. Major federal investments are needed to solve this growing environmental and public health crises."
3. Rivers of Southern Appalachia
Southern Appalachia's rivers were thrust into the spotlight in September when Hurricane Helene devastated the region's communities, hundreds of miles from where it made landfall in Florida. That extreme weather and the flooding it unleashed are only two of the threats at play for the rivers' inclusion on the list — unsafe dams and lack of federal capacity also contributed, the group said.
"The rivers of Southern Appalachia weave a rich tapestry, vital to the region's culture and economy, and supporting an abundance of life. But Hurricane Helene devastated these rivers and communities with record flooding and landslides," the report says. "Federal, state, and local partners have already allocated resources to the region, but there is a long road to recovery and preparation for the next storm in the years to come. Together we must continue to restore the rivers, invest in communities, and remove unsafe dams to strengthen the region so people and businesses can thrive despite increasingly extreme weather."
4. Passaic River
For New Jersey and New York's roughly 80-mile long Passaic River, industrial pollution remains the biggest threat, even as it remains a vital resource. The river's watershed is home to 10 reservoirs and three drinking water facilities serving more than 2 million people, American Rivers says.
"The Passaic River has always been a vital resource, supporting livelihoods and economic growth. But it has also been badly contaminated by the chemical manufacturing industry. Thanks to the work of many committed people, there is now a plan in place to clean up the contamination and begin to restore the river," the report says. "We recognize the decades of effort that brought us here and urge the federal government to help see this cleanup through to completion — restoring fisheries, boosting tourism and recreation, creating jobs, and improving public health. At the same time, we urge local residents to get to know the river and help shape the restoration."
5. Lower Rio Grande
The Rio Grande is the nation's third-longest river and provides water for more than 6 million people. Its lower basin is often the only source of water, according to American Rivers. And yet the reservoirs it supplies received low investment compared to other major U.S. river systems, making water scarcity, overallocation, aging infrastructure and border policies the greatest threats to the waterway.
"The river is a vital economic, cultural, and ecological resource for people and wildlife of the United States and Mexico. But despite its immense value to people and nature, the river has been under constant threat for decades," the report says. "Today, the danger is nowhere more urgent than in the Lower Rio Grande basin where water scarcity, pollution, and overallocation harm the river and communities that rely on it. The recent Minute 331 agreement established a Binational Environmental Working Group, creating a critical opportunity to advance conservation efforts and advocate for much-needed federal funding to ensure the river can continue to support people and nature."
6. Rappahannock River
Virginia's 195-mile-long Rappahannock River is a vital economic and agricultural resource for the state, as well as a crucial source for drinking water, according to American Rivers, but water mismanagement and a lack of planning have put the waterway in danger.
"The river is at risk from a lack of water supply planning that would safeguard and ensure the future of the region's precious water resources for all beneficial users," the report says. "Increasing demand for surface water, driven by population growth, expanding industries like data centers, and declining groundwater levels, pose a significant threat to the river's health and sustainability. New state regulations require regional water supply plans, but a coordinated basin-wide approach is crucial to safeguard the Rappahannock."
7. Clearwater River Basin
Idaho's Clearwater River Basin is made up of multiple forks of the Clearwater River, as well as the Lochsa and Selway Rivers, and is part of the homelands of the Nez Perce Tribe, which American Rivers says spends nearly $3 million every year to restore local fish populations. But commercial logging, dredge mining and the construction of dams continue to threaten the basin's survival, as well as the species that inhabit it.
"The stunning Clearwater River Basin in the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forest is known as a 'Noah's Ark' for Chinook salmon, steelhead, westslope cutthroat trout, and bull trout because its cold, clean, high-elevation streams will be able to sustain fish populations even as temperatures warm," the report says. "The clean water that filters through the old growth forests and fills 700 miles of streams is one of the most valuable resources the Forest produces. A new land management plan that relaxes restrictions on mining and dam-building while expanding commercial logging could destroy habitat, trigger erosion, and pollute these exceptional streams. The Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forest must strike a better balance to ensure that timber harvest and other activities don't degrade clean water and other values."
8. Susitna River
Alaska's Susitna River flows more than 300 miles and has a watershed nearly the size of West Virginia, providing a vital resource for salmon harvesting, hunting, recreation, tourism and more. But American Rivers has found that road construction, mining and pollution are threatening the river and the wildlife that relies on it.
"South-central Alaska's Susitna River is one of the most pristine rivers in the United States and supports the fastest growing population in the state of Alaska. Home to an abundance of fish and wildlife, the river plays an important role for Alaska Native communities and also powers a strong economy dependent on the renewable resources of fishing and hunting," the report says. "But the construction of an industrial access road to allow for mining and oil and gas development threatens the area's natural wealth and all who benefit from a healthy river. We must halt federal funding and expedited permitting for this destructive road project and protect the Susitna's irreplaceable fisheries, water quality, and communities."
9. Calcasieu River
Southwest Louisiana's Calcasieu River spans roughly 200 miles, serving as a vital nursery to fish and wildlife, including Pinky, the famous pink dolphin. The river, which has played a major role throughout history, continues to be vital to the U.S. seafood industry, with nearly one-third of all the seafood consumed in the country coming from the state. But according to American Rivers, pollution has put all of this at risk.
"For centuries, the Calcasieu River has been the lifeblood of southwestern Louisiana, sustaining local communities, abundant wildlife, and thriving ecosystems," the report says. "But a history of chemical mismanagement and continued unregulated dumping of toxic chemicals poses an existential threat to the river's future. The Environmental Protection Agency must update outdated federal pollution control technology standards for chemical plants, plastics manufacturers, and refineries operating along the river."
10. Gauley River
Coal mining pollution is threatening West Virginia's Gauley River, which American Rivers describes as a place with headwaters of a "scenic splendor" that few can rival.
"The Gauley River fuels an outdoor-recreation economy that generates hundreds of millions of dollars annually — vital revenue in a region reeling from generations of boom-and-bust extractive industries," the report says. "The Gauley is a world-famous whitewater destination, beloved by kayakers and rafters from around the globe. Yet, this same remarkable watershed faces a grave threat: toxic pollution from coal strip mining in the headwaters of the Cherry River, one of the Gauley's primary tributaries."
