{"id":2154,"date":"2016-11-06T20:39:39","date_gmt":"2016-11-06T20:39:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sniwla.org\/sniwla\/?p=2154"},"modified":"2017-12-11T12:27:25","modified_gmt":"2017-12-11T12:27:25","slug":"fall-2016-nansemond-river-cleanup-event","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sniwla.org\/sniwla\/fall-2016-nansemond-river-cleanup-event\/","title":{"rendered":"Fall 2016 Nansemond River Cleanup Event"},"content":{"rendered":"

Early Saturday morning, November 5, 2016, our members were joined by volunteers from Nansemond River Preservation Alliance (NRPA) for our second River Clean- up event.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Also participating were employees and family members from the Sev1Tech company. <\/span><\/p>\n

A total of 54 volunteers participated.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>The focus of this event was cleaning the river bank behind the businesses on North Main Street from the Nansemond River Bridge to the Suffolk water tower.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>The Suffolk Litter Control Coordinator supplied equipment and worked with the Suffolk Parks and Recreation Department to establish an accumulation area for the trash and debris collected.<\/span><\/p>\n

Volunteers worked from 9 AM until about noon and collected 112 bags of trash, 18 tires, 3 wooden pallets, wire fencing, buckets, rusty drums, 9 shopping carts, a tricycle, a TV and a toilet.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>One of the volunteers said, \u201cWe didn\u2019t find the kitchen sink but we did get the toilet.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>In addition to the trash and debris removed, volunteers identified additional material that was either too large or inaccessible due to vegetation or the steep slope of the river bank.<\/span><\/p>\n

These river clean-up events are conducted in accordance with the Commonwealth of Virginia\u2019s Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) Adopt-A-Stream Program.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Now that we have completed the second clean-up event, we will be working with the City of Suffolk to determine where to post the Chapter\u2019s Adopt-A-Stream sign.<\/span><\/p>\n

With the completion of this second event, we have covered most of the area of the river that we adopted\u2014from the dam to the Hilton Garden Inn.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Future clean-ups can focus on those areas and items that we have identified and mapped.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>We will be working on ways to access the steeper sections along the bank and methods to remove many of the tires we have located in the river.<\/span><\/p>\n

Although it seems like with each clean-up we gather more material, our progress will be evident when the trash and debris becomes harder to find.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>River clean-up events give everyone an opportunity to spend time enjoying the outdoors and contributing to our community.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\t\t