The Kansas River riverkeeper is out of a job.

“I’ve been terminated,” Dave Murphy said Thursday. “The money isn’t there.”

Murphy said his employer, Friends of the Kaw, eliminated his full-time position May 14.

“It’s true,” said Lance Burr, a Lawrence attorney who co-founded Friends of the Kaw. “We just couldn’t pull in enough money to keep him.”

Burr said the group was trying to maintain its affiliation with the national Riverkeeper Alliance, a coalition of environmental groups headed by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

“To do that, we have to have a riverkeeper, but it’s not required to be a full-time position,” Burr said. “We have some board members working on some grants to see if we can come up with something half-time, maybe.”

As riverkeeper, Murphy lobbied on behalf of the Kansas River, often floating the river in search of pollution and testifying before legislative committees.

In recent years, the Kansas River has been included on lists of the nation’s most polluted waterways, mostly due to high concentrations of fecal coliform bacteria — feedlot manure.

Murphy said he was paid $25,000 a year, plus travel and office expenses. The position did not include health insurance.

Dave Murphy, Kansas Riverkeeper, finds chunks of foam, a byproduct of organic waste, floating in the Kansas River in this 2002 file photo. Murphy has lost his job protecting the river because of a money shortage.

Murphy, who lives near Ottawa, said he and members of the Friends of the Kaw Friends board of directors discussed the possibility of his continuing part-time.

“To do the job right requires a full-time position. That’s all there is to it,” Murphy said. “It breaks my heart to see this opportunity slip away.”

Burr said Murphy’s efforts would be missed.

“Dave did a great job; he was very conscientious,” Burr said. “I’m disappointed we can’t keep him. But it’s hard to raise money, especially in a town like Lawrence where lots of different groups are out there trying to raise money for lots of different things.”

¢Friends of the Kaw

Friends of the Kaw has about 500 dues-paying members, Burr said.