Protect, Preserve, and Restore

WHO WE ARE

We believe that a healthy environment equals a healthy community, our overall efforts are focused on growing a cleaner, greener, healthier, and more sustainable West Atlanta.

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The West Atlanta Watershed Alliance (WAWA) is a community-based non-profit organization whose mission is to improve the quality of life within the West Atlanta Watershed by protecting, preserving and restoring our community’s natural resources. WAWA represents African American neighborhoods in Northwest and Southwest Atlanta that are most inundated with environmental stressors, but are least represented at environmental decision-making tables.

WHAT WE DO

As an all-volunteer organization, WAWA was successful in preserving over 400 acres of greenspace from development in Southwest Atlanta and raised over $2 million dollars to do so (even before becoming a 501 c(3) organization). Through a MOU with the City of Atlanta Bureau of Parks, Recreation, and Cultural Affairs, WAWA now operates the Outdoor Activity Center (OAC), a 26-acre urban forest preserve and nature center. WAWA is also the steward of the nearby 135-acre Cascade Springs Nature Preserve and the 200-acre Lionel Hampton Beecher Park; all in Southwest Atlanta.

WAWA’s symbol is WAWA Aba or “Seed of the WAWA Tree”, the West African Adinkra Symbol of hardiness, toughness, and perseverance. In the West African Akan culture, WAWA Aba is a symbol of strength and toughness. It inspires perseverance through hardship.