Four organizations have come together to better understand the litter problem in rivers in Savannah, Georgia, and to prevent trash from entering these waterways.
As Savannah Now reported, the City of Savannah, Savannah Riverkeeper, Ogeechee Riverkeeper, and Osprey Initiative are collaborating on cleanup efforts.
Their collective goal is to identify the types of litter entering the water and stop it from floating downstream. They are using floating barriers, called litter booms, to catch trash in eight locations.
The litter booms are just temporary measures, but they offer hope of addressing problematic litter sources to provide more sustainable solutions.
For example, data collected from one litter boom revealed that trash was coming from a nearby apartment complex that didn’t have adequately sized dumpsters onsite. With this knowledge, community leaders reached out to management to arrange for larger dumpsters in the complex.
This local litter boom project is complemented by the City of Savannah’s Adopt-a-Drain program, which allows citizens to get involved in keeping storm drains free of litter and debris.
The annual statewide Rivers Alive 2025 cleanup event also encourages residents to use kayaks and canoes to help clean up trash. All of these community efforts are helping to make the Savannah area cleaner, healthier, and more beautiful.
Wherever you live, you can take local action by volunteering with conservation and clean-up groups or donating money to support their missions.
These programs in Savannah are just some of the many inspiring examples of local organizations coming together to make rivers cleaner and keep waterways free of trash.
“We all have to be vigilant and help each other out,” Laura Walker, the City of Savannah’s environmental administrator, told Savannah Now. “If it’s on the ground, it’s in our water. And litter is such a negative impact on any community and an absolutely negative impact on our water and all the species that depend on our water. We’re centered on cleaning up what’s out there, figuring out what’s creating the problem, and focused on positive engagement to make it better.”
This story originally appeared in The Cool Down by Alyssa Ochs. You can view the original story online here.
