Great Miami River Sweep

This past Saturday I participated in the Great Miami River Cleanup.  This is an annual event covering the entire Miami River, which flows from Indian Lake in Washington, Oh for 170 miles to the Ohio River. As you can image, it was a big evolution and took the effort of hundreds of people.

According to the event’s website, the river’s watershed covers 6,600 miles of rivers and streams and drains all or parts of 15 counties in Southwestern Ohio and Eastern Indiana.  Storm water drains and ditches pick up garbage every time it rains and causes the collection of debris along the riverbanks. 

I worked in the region just north of the Ohio River in Hamilton County and let me tell you...  the majority of what we picked up was plastic bottles.  People, please, buy a reusable water bottle and refill it every time you want a drink.  Image how much money you would save and how much pollution you would help to keep out of our waterways.  Not to mention the energy that would be saved from the manufacturing of those drinks if nobody bought them!  If we keep buying them, they’ll keep making them.  

This is the flood plains on the side of the river near Shawnee Lookout.  These areas stay dry for the most part, unless there are heavy rains.  Some areas were a bit difficult to walk through, but others were open like you seen here.  We had a group of girl scouts with us, they were very cute, you could hear them squealing every time they found something. Lots and lots of squealing and giggling.  Bravo to those troop mothers!

Here are the two dumpsters we filled up.  I don’t know how much our group collected but if I had to take a guess, I’d say 100 garbage bags and 30 tires.  Why do tires always wind up in rivers?  The website says that last year the entire project collected 34.55 tons of debris plus 401 tires.  They haven’t got the final tally for this year’s project yet.

I’m reminded of the commercial frequently seen when I was young, “Give a hoot, don’t pollute.” Do they still have commercials like that on TV?  I can’t recall seeing one recently.

A big “Thanks” to all of the counties that organized the volunteers in their portion of the annual sweep.  It’s a beautiful river and I hope it stays that way FOREVER (I know, I know, nothing lasts forever, but maybe for a long, long time).