If you've driven Georgia Highway 11 just outside of town, you've crossed it without thinking twice. The Mulberry River doesn't look like much from the bridge — but for the families of Winder and the surrounding Barrow County communities, few things matter more.
The Mulberry rises in northeastern Gwinnett County, winds through Barrow, and feeds the Oconee River system. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the monitoring station on the Mulberry near Winder drains a watershed of roughly 142 square miles, all of it draining toward the water that ends up in our homes, our schools, and our children's glasses at dinner. The Mulberry River watershed serves the City of Winder and acts as a water source for communities across Jackson, Clarke, and Barrow Counties.
That's the simple reason NuRich created the River Project: the water that makes our community possible deserves a community that protects it back.
A Growing Town Puts New Pressure on an Old River
Winder isn't the quiet railroad town it was a generation ago. The numbers tell the story plainly. The city's population was 18,338 at the 2020 Census and has since climbed past 21,700 in 2026 — an increase of more than 18% in six years, growing at roughly 2.6% annually.
Zoom out to the county and the growth is even more dramatic. Barrow County grew from 69,367 residents in 2010 to 83,505 in 2020, transforming a once-rural county into one dotted with new neighborhoods and subdivisions.
More rooftops mean more demand on the same finite watershed. Most of Barrow County's drinking water is drawn from the 505-acre Bear Creek Reservoir in neighboring Jackson County, which holds about five billion gallons and is managed by the Upper Oconee Basin Water Authority — a partnership of Barrow, Athens-Clarke, Jackson, and Oconee Counties created by the Georgia General Assembly in 1994. The reservoir's treatment plant currently runs at a capacity of about 21 million gallons per day to serve the region.
Five billion gallons sounds endless. It isn't. Every new home, lawn, and ballfield draws from the same shared account — which is exactly why protecting the rivers and streams that feed it has stopped being optional.
What the River Project Actually Does
NuRich's River Project is built on a simple belief: a water company should leave the water cleaner than it found it. The initiative focuses on three things our neighbors told us they care about most.
1. Protecting local water quality
Healthy rivers start with healthy banks. The River Project supports stream-buffer awareness, cleanup days along accessible stretches of the Mulberry corridor, and education about how everyday runoff — lawn fertilizer, motor oil, litter — travels straight from a Winder driveway to the watershed. Georgia's Environmental Protection Division tracks the health of waterways like the Mulberry through its biennial water-quality assessments, and community stewardship is one of the most effective tools for keeping a stream off the impaired list in the first place.
2. Supporting local jobs and local pride
Clean water isn't just an environmental story in Barrow County — it's an economic one. From the treatment operators at the Upper Oconee Basin Water Authority to the small businesses that depend on a growing, healthy town, water is infrastructure that pays wages. The River Project prioritizes local partners and local hands, because the people who live by the Mulberry are the ones who protect it best.
3. Putting family health first
Reliable, clean drinking water is the quiet foundation of family health — for the toddler learning to drink from a cup and the high-schooler on the Apalachee practice field in August heat. The River Project keeps that foundation front and center, pairing watershed protection with a push toward reusable, refill-first habits at home.
Aluminum, Reusables, and Why the Container Counts
Protecting a river isn't only about the riverbank. It's also about what we do with water after it leaves the tap — and here the science is encouraging.
Unlike plastic, aluminum can be recycled infinitely without losing quality, and an estimated 75% of all aluminum ever produced is still in use today. Recycling aluminum uses only about 5% of the energy required to make it new. Globally, aluminum beverage cans reached roughly a 75% recycling rate in recent reporting — while in the United States, the PET plastic bottle collection rate sat at just 33% in 2023, near a multi-decade high but still far behind.
The most sustainable container of all, of course, is the one you refill. A single reusable bottle can replace hundreds of single-use plastics over its life. That's the everyday version of the River Project — and it starts on your kitchen counter.
Pour your filtered tap water into a bottle built to last, like the NuRich 18 oz Insulated Water Bottle — The Original, and keep it road-ready with a leak-resistant Hydro Wide-Mouth Tritan Twist Chug Lid. Every refill from the Winder tap is one less plastic bottle headed for the Mulberry.
Winder Pride, Downstream and Up
There's a quiet pride in knowing where your water comes from. Most folks in town can't point to the Bear Creek Reservoir on a map, and even fewer have stood on the bank of the Mulberry. But every shower, every pot of coffee, every Friday-night water station traces back to these waters.
The River Project is NuRich's way of saying thank you to the watershed that makes Winder possible — and an open invitation to our neighbors to join in. Whether it's a cleanup morning along the creek, a switch to a refillable bottle at home, or simply teaching the kids where their water really comes from, every small act flows downstream.
How to Get Involved
- Refill first. Trade single-use plastic for a reusable NuRich bottle and make tap-to-bottle your family's default.
- Keep it out of the storm drain. Fertilizer, oil, and litter on a Winder street are tomorrow's water-quality problem. Sweep, don't hose.
- Watch this space. Local cleanup dates and Mulberry River stewardship events will be announced through NuRich.
The Mulberry has carried this community for generations. With a little care from all of us, it can carry the next ones too.
Learn more about NuRich's mission and the River Project →
Sources: U.S. Geological Survey Water Data (Mulberry River near Winder, site 02217380); U.S. Census Bureau / World Population Review (Winder & Barrow County population); Upper Oconee Basin Water Authority & Barrow County, GA (Bear Creek Reservoir); The Aluminum Association and Packaging Dive (aluminum recycling); NAPCOR (2023 PET bottle recycling rate); Georgia Environmental Protection Division (water-quality assessment).