By Andy Furman
NKyTribune reporter
It’s 981 miles long. The source of drinking water for over five million people. It supports over 160 species of fish, 100 species of mussels, and numerous other species – birds, macroinvertebrates.
And, most importantly – it serves as transportation for over 184 million tons of cargo, annually.
What is it? The Ohio River.
The Covington Rotary Club has announced a Litter Clean-Up Event – 9 a.m.-noon – Saturday, June 1st.
“The event will be at the Pete Rose Pier in Covington,” said David Meyer, co-President of the Club. “And refreshments and donuts will be available after the event.”
Cleanup supplies, he said, will be provided.
The event will be in conjunction with orsanco.org/river-sweep 2024.
ORSANCO is the water pollution control agency for the Ohio River and its tributaries.
“We’re an interstate agency, and we represent the states of Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and the federal government,” Sarah Segars, Public Information & Outreach Coordinator for ORSANCO, told the Covington Rotary Club.
She mentioned that our drinking water is fine. In fact, Segars said ORSANCO conducts a bi-monthly water quality program that cleans metals and looks for harmful algal blooms (HABs).
But it is the Ohio River Sweep that really gets people involved, she says.
“It’s a volunteer cleanup from March 1st-October 31st, throughout six-member states.”
In short, the program aims to clean the shorelines of the Ohio River and any of its tributaries within the Ohio River Basin.
ORSANCO, she says, provides:
• Volunteer T-shirts
• Trash Bags
• Safety gloves
• Free supplies pickup or direct shipment.
Last year the Ohio River Sweep saw 4,596 volunteers, with 121 events across six states – Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia — according to ORSANCO reports.
“Those volunteers removed 85.01 tons of trash and collected 902 tires removed,” Segars said.
“We work on water quality, water pollution and control,” she said. “With waste on the river, we’re losing a great treasure,” she said.
The Ohio River, she noted, has played a critical role in the industrial growth of the United States by serving as a major transportation route and providing a plentiful source of water.
“An unfortunate side of this growth,” she said, “has been a significant pollution challenge.”
ORSANCO is able to complete extensive water quality programs such as comprehensive surface water quality characterization and assessment’s spill monitoring and response, aquatic life and habitat monitoring and evaluation; bacterial determination for contact recreation and public information and educational ooutreach targeting underserved communities, according to Segars.
The Covington Rotary – with the help of the local community – will be doing their part, June 1st.
But please, don’t leave a mess.