In 1989, Leaf and Cielo Myczack's Broadened Horizons Riverkeepers Project joined FGS to form the Clean Water Project, which was FGS' second project. They sailed the Tennessee River and identified issues of concern along the river. The Clean Water Project published a Citizens Guide to Pollution of the Tennessee River, and teamed up with the FGS's Oak Ridge Education Project to release information on the contamination from the Oak Ridge Reservation in the Watts Bar Resevoir. Leaf and Cielo's Broadened Horizons Riverkeepers Project is now an independent project, based in Chattanooga.

In the 1991, the CWP organized the first River Rescue which has become a broadly supported, annual Knoxville public event. Additionally, the CWP initiated such efforts as the Headwaters Campaign which educated the public about threats to the mountain rivers that form the headwaters of the Tennessee River.

In 1993, CWP began to address pollution problems created by the Champion Pulp and Paper Mill located on the Pigeon River which leads directly into the Tennessee River. To address these problems, the CWP initiated a regional education campaign that introduced citizens to the problems on the Tennessee River as well as a political and legal campaign that would force Champion to comply with Clean Water Act laws.