College to help clean up local river
By Lindy Dugger
[email protected]
Assistant Editor
For the first time ever Georgia Highlands College Service Learning will be participating in Georgia's annual Rivers Alive program, a waterway cleanup event.
�Georgia Highlands College Service Learning will join the Coosa River Basin Initiative in an effort to clean up the waterways of Georgia, specifically a waterway in Rome,� said Amanda Mays, the Georgia Highlands College volunteer service coordinator.
According to Mitch Lawson, executive director of the CRBI, the Rome cleanup will be held on Saturday, Oct. 25, from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. Volunteers should meet at the boat ramp at Heritage Park in Rome.
Rivers Alive is an annual program held each October in Georgia with the purpose �to create awareness of and involvement in the preservation of Georgia's water resources,� according to the Rivers Alive program website, www.riversalive.org. This event is sponsored by the Georgia Department of National Resources' �Georgia Adopt-A-Stream� program and the Georgia Department of National Affairs' �Keep Georgia Beautiful� program.
The statewide cleanup targets all the waterways and wetlands throughout Georgia. Participant groups gather at a predetermined waterway and collect the garbage and refuse surrounding the site over a period of time, usually a few hours. The waste is sorted into �garbage� and �recyclables� and then put into appropriate dumpsters or recycling containers.
Last year, over 16,000 Rivers Alive program volunteers cleaned over 300,000 pounds of garbage out of Georgia's waterways throughout October. This year the Rivers Alive Board members have set a goal of 20,000 volunteers and 125 groups statewide.
Anyone interested in being involved with Rome's Rivers Alive cleanup should contact the Coosa River Basin Initiative at (706) 232-2704 or Amanda Mays in the Service Learning Office at (706) 295-6773.
|
