Annual River Sweep collects tires, trash from Youghiogheny
CONNELLSVILLE – Volunteers collected about 135 tires and 100 bags of trash during the annual Youghiogheny River Sweep this week, according to a state official. The River Sweep, an annual six-state effort to clean up the banks of the Ohio River watershed, is sponsored by the state Department of Environmental Protection, the Ohio River Valley Sanitation Commission (ORSANCO) and a number of Pennsylvania corporate sponsors.
DEP spokeswoman Betsy Mallison said although corporate sponsors are important, the key to making the River Sweep a success is community groups such as churches, Scout troops, environmental groups and volunteers, who give their time to join in the fight against pollution along the rivers and streams.
“We had about 30 volunteers on Monday, and they covered an area between Perryopolis and Dawson in about four hours,” said Mallison. “We had a pretty good turnout, and everyone worked really hard in the heat.”
Mallison said volunteers received trash bags and a souvenir T-shirt for participating. Refreshments were provided at River Sweep sites.
The River Sweep, according to Mallison, is the largest organized volunteer river cleanup effort in the country and includes efforts in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, West Virginia and Illinois, covering more than 2,400 miles of shoreline.
“Last year more than 1,100 volunteers collected trash and debris along the Ohio, Allegheny, Beaver, Monongahela and Youghiogheny rivers and their tributaries,” she said.
The next River Sweep will be held July 12 from 8 a.m. until noon at Camp Christian in Springfield Township, as well as in West Newton.
Mallison said this year’s event along the Youghiogheny was especially important, because the DEP found a mosquito pool in Dawson that tested positive for the West Nile virus. Mallison said the pool is the fourth found in Pennsylvania since May 26. A pool in Washington County tested positive June 18.
Although no confirmed cases of the West Nile virus have been reported in humans so far this year, local residents are not out of the woods yet, because most of last year’s cases were not reported until after July 1.
Last year, 62 Pennsylvanians contracted the disease, and nine died. “In order to combat the spread of the West Nile virus, Pennsylvania has developed a comprehensive network which covers all 67 counties and includes trapping mosquitoes, collecting dead birds and monitoring horses, people and sentinel chickens,” Mallison said.
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Editor’s note: To attend the River Sweep cleanup at Camp Christian, take Route 381 south from Normalville, cross over the iron bridge at Indian Creek Reservoir, go two-tenths of a mile and turn into Camp Christian. Follow right to the T in the road, make a left, go to the Iron Bridge, continue about three-tenths of a mile and park along the road.