The Ohio River is at once one of the most beautiful, useful assets in our area — and one of the largest trash dumps. For some reason, stream banks seem to be viewed by some as perfect places to dispose of garbage and junk. Combine that with the debris that washes down the river during periods of high water, often becoming lodged on its banks, and the beautiful Ohio sometimes isn’t much at which to look.
Each year, thousands of volunteers throughout the Ohio River valley and on some of its tributaries spend a day doing something about that. They work with the annual River Sweep program to collect and dispose of trash and junk on the rivers’ banks. The event is organized by the Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission.
River Sweep 2008 in our area has been set for June 21. We are aware of specific plans for cleanup work in Ohio and Marshall counties; help in other areas no doubt would be welcomed.
Cleanup work is planned for the Heritage Port-WesBanco Arena and Wheeling Island boat ramp areas of Ohio County, and for the Riverside Park area in Moundsville.
Down through the years — River Sweep is in its 19th year — the program has done an enormous amount of good. According to Jeanne Ison of ORSANCO, about 100,000 tons of debris has been removed from river banks during that time.
If you are interested in working with River Sweep, you can call 800-359-3977 to obtain information. If you have a few hours to spare on June 21, we encourage you to help the program in making a few sections of the Ohio River bank more attractive.
