The Waterkeeper Alliance is an umbrella organization consisting of 86 Waterkeeper programs (as of 2002) located throughout North and Central America. The mission of the Alliance is to restore degraded waters and to protect aquatic environments and is based on the philosophy that protection of a community's resources requires the daily vigilance of its citizens.

The Waterkeeper concept started in 1966 on the Hudson River in New York, when a coalition of commercial and recreational fishermen was formed to protect the Hudson from pollution. The coalition constructed a boat to patrol the river; in 1983 this coalition, calling itself the Riverkeepers, using funds from successful lawsuits, hired a full-time public advocate and began filing lawsuits against municipal and industrial polluters. By 1998, after over 100 successful legal actions were filed against Hudson River polluters, resulting in $1 billion in remediation costs, the Hudson River was once again a productive ecosystem. The Hudson River...