Each year, the state of Georgia sponsors the Rivers Alive program to cleanup the state’s rivers, streams and lakes. This year more than 25,000 people are expected to volunteer and participate in statewide cleanup events all across Georgia.

As part of the Rivers Alive program, Georgia Power sponsored the ninth annual Renew Our Rivers cleanup at Lake Sinclair on Wednesday, Oct. 9 and later this month on Oct. 26, the Lake Oconee Water Watch Inc. will sponsor the Rivers Alive cleanup on Lake Oconee.

Around 75 Georgia Power employees and a few lake area residents collected trash from shoreline sites including Twin Bridges, Highway 441, Rooty Creek, Green’s boat landing, Potato Creek, Cedar Creek and all of the lake islands including Optimist Island and Goat Island.

When I asked participants about any unusual items found this year, they indicated that the trash collected included the usual items that people discard by throwing their trash from their automobiles and boats or trash left along the lake’s shoreline on outings to the lake. Those usual items included bottles, cans, paper, bait cups and plastic bags.

One participant told me about one of the more interesting items found during a past cleanup. A billfold was found by a participant and it turned out to be his son’s billfold that the son had lost more than a year prior to the cleanup. The billfold still contained all of its original contents including a driver’s license and several credit cards.

I talked to Kiara Runnels, a ninth grade student at Central High School in Macon, who came to participate in the cleanup with her mother Carolyn Runnels who is a Georgia Power employee. Kiara was out of school for the fall break and decided to help with the cleanup.

“It was a great experience for me and I enjoyed it,” Kiara said. “I would like to do it again, but I just do not understand why people cannot put their trash in a trash can.”

To continue keeping Lake Sinclair and all our lakes clean, beautiful and a nice clean place to fish and visit we need a cooperative effort from everyone. We continue to have a serious litter problem on and around our lakes and that problem needs attention. Certainly activities like the Rivers Alive events will help cleanup our rivers and lakes but it does not solve the underlying problem of people littering.

Laws are posted on signs along our highways that indicate a fine will be issued for littering, but do you actually know someone who has received a citation for littering? I do not know if the answer lies in education or not, but maybe our schools should get involved and begin to educate our children at a young age about the litter problem.

Parents should also be involved by instructing their children and grandchildren about the problems caused by littering. It only takes a few days after highways and other areas around the lake have been cleaned up for the litter to return.

A simple solution would be to always carry a plastic bag or receptacle in your car and/or your boat for collecting trash and then later disposing of that litter in a proper place. Statistics from the Rivers Alive program shows no indication that the litter problem is getting any better in Georgia. It seems that each year the previous year’s total amount of trash collected during the Rivers Alive events sets a new record.

As my wife and I travel around the country, we look to see how other states are doing in regards to littering. Some states like Kentucky have the cleanest highways of any we have visited. I am not sure why that is the case but I would rank Georgia very high or one of the worst states in regards to littering around lakes and adjacent highways compared to the other states we visit.

To get additional information about the upcoming Rivers Alive on Lake Oconee on Oct. 26, or to participate in that event, send an email to Janet Pearson at riversalivelakeoconee@gmail.com. Remember to always take a trash bag along on outings to the lakes. Do not be tempted to dump your trash around or in the lakes. Please keep all our lakes, rivers and streams clean and beautiful for all to enjoy. See you next week.

 

Bobby Peoples can be reached by e-mail at brpeoples@windstream.net.