President Ronnie Pruett called the meeting to order at 12:35 and asked that John Priester introduce visiting Rotarians and guests.
     Jim Wright introduced a special musical program of the Flower Duet from Act II of Madama Butterfly being presented by Opera Carolina.   It was roundly applauded by all present.
     Leland Park provided us with the Health and Happiness report relating whine and cheese stories from recent sports events.
     President Ronnie led us in the pledge and Theresa Evans offered our prayer.
     President-elect Worth Williamson announced the Rotary district conference to be held April 23-25 in Asheville.  It will include discussions of upcoming district projects as well as golf and other events in the Asheville.  Call Worth if you are interested in attending.
     Sitting at the head table were Robert Freeman, Chuck Hoch, Larry Sagehorn and Bob Culbertson who introduced Michael McLaurin, executive director of the Catawba River Foundation.  In his introductory remarks reminded us of the importance of the Catawba River to our area.  He said it provided about half of the electric power generation by Duke Energy, 8% of the drinking water in North Carolina, major flood control, recreation, and a significant impact on the area's tax base.  He then introduced our speaker, Donna Lisenby, Catawba Riverkeeper, one of 21 riverkeepers in the U.S.
     The Catawba Riverkeeper team is the eyes and ears of the river.   The Riverkeeper and the volunteers work with polluters and government agencies to stop illegal pollution.  Donna reminded us that the Catawba begins west of Mount Mitchell and runs 225 miles to Lake Wateree in South Carolina.  It includes 11 lakes in that distance.
     There are 5 major challenges for the Catawba River to overcome.
     1) Sediment is the number one environmental enemy.  It smothers bottom-dwelling plants and animals, reduces reservoirs' ability to store floodwaters, increases the cost of providing clean drinking water, strands lake front property, hurts game and fish habitat, carries toxic pollutants and prematurely wears hydro-electric turbines.
     2) Overfeeding of nutrients from fertilizer runoff and sewage discharges produce eutrophic conditions which results in algal blooms to choke the life out of the river.
     3) Declining of water quality from illegal pollution discharges into the river.
     4) Poor enforcement of pollution rules comes from inadequate fines and from only about 5% of violations being discovered and prosecuted.
     5) Out of control growth is straining our river's ability to serve our needs.  The region is growing at 14% per year which will mean 300,000 more residents in the next decade or so.
     Donna's conclusion is that the Catawba is seriously threatened.   Happily there are numerous positive examples of our neighbors in the Catawba River Valley rolling up their sleeves and beginning or continuing the work of saving the Catawba from an ignoble, unworthy and polluted future.  These positive examples are being demonstrated by a broad continuum of contributors.  Common sense, practical solutions are being developed, modeled and communicated by corporate leaders, the education community, the government sector, the media, and by every day Americans.
     Donna asks everyone to support our regions' combined and united efforts to protect this beautiful river so that the generations of the 21st century will be able to experience for themselves the greatest legacy we could ever bequeath them, clean water.

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