Roswell’s Annual Rivers Alive Cleanup is slated for Sept. 27. Registration is going on now, with deadlines of Sept. 19, and Sept. 12 for groups of 10 or more.
Information: www.roswellgov.com, www.riversalive.com/ra_about.htm
We are blessed by Georgia’s natural abundance of water resources, and with 70,150 miles of rivers, streams, lakes and wetlands, we are all within community reach of some variety of waterway.
As we rely on these resources for drinking water, and enjoy them for their beauty, tranquility and recreational opportunities, we should also be careful to consider their long term health and do all we can to ensure that our interactions with them are positive ones.
Every autumn for the past 15 years, Rivers Alive, the Georgia Environmental Protection Division’s outreach program, has helped preserve and protect Georgia’s water resources through annual volunteer waterway cleanup and educational events.
So far, over 343,000 Rivers Alive volunteers have removed 8.6 million pounds of garbage from nearly 25,000 miles of Georgia’s waterways since the statewide collaborative program began in 1999.
Prior to this, Georgia Adopt-A-Stream and Keep Georgia Beautiful programs led river clean-up efforts, which included such local programs as Roswell’s “Sweep the Hooch.” But Rivers Alive united the various community campaigns and made fall the season for the statewide waterway cleanup.
Over the years, both of my sons have participated in this worthwhile program, through membership in St. Andrew’s Rowing Team and while in Cub Scouts. There are many other groups that regularly sign up, but families also comprise a large volunteer component, according to Vicki Culbreth, Roswell’s Environmental Education Coordinator.
Culbreth told me that in Roswell last year, 206 volunteers collected 1,227.4 lbs. of garbage, while in 2011, roughly 400 volunteers cleaned up about a ton, and she says, “we’re clearly making an impact on the river, as the trash became less and less each year.”
There is something for volunteers of all ages and abilities. A group of students from Roswell’s Centennial High School regularly participates with the water cleanup, but younger, supervised children may help by marking neighborhood storm drains and distributing educational materials that give guidelines on what should and should not go down our drains.
There are many tasks to choose from and areas that need attention, and those who sign on to help out are asked for preferences. There is land cleanup in parks and along trails, roads, and stream areas, while Riverside Park and the Chattahoochee Nature Center are privet pull sites, where older children and adults utilize easy-to-use tools to help remove the invasive plants.
There are about 13 miles of river in Roswell from Holcomb Bridge Road to the Chattahoochee Nature Center, but you’ll be required to bring your own watercraft, which includes canoes and kayaks, to help with the waterway cleanup.
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