Lock and Dam Garbage Released
Volunteers collect trash from Mon River
Morgantown Dominion Post
14
June 2011
By Alex Lang
Meg Ayers and Tina Griffith pick up a floating
tire from thre Mononhahela after trash was released from Morgantown
Lock and Dam. Ron Rittenhouse/Dominion Post photo
Minutes after water and trash began pouring from
Morgantown Lock and Dam and down the Monongahela River, Tim Terman and
the volunteers on his boat headed toward the debris.
Bottles, tires, a flower pot, a football, pieces of foam
and other items floated in the river.
“My advice is, don’t be distracted by the tiny things,”
Terman told his crew as they hit the first grouping of trash. “Get the
big stuff, get the big stuff.”
After a few misses, crew members got the hang of the
grabbers and became pros, picking piece after piece out of the water.
Scott Lemons and Josh Dyer add to the
collection of debris that they pulled from the river. Ron
Rittenhouse/Dominion Post photo
By the end of the day, volunteers had plenty to show for
their efforts. The haul included roughly 50 bags of trash, 18 tires and
some miscellaneous items.
Wednesday was the first time public notice was given about
the release of water and trash from behind the lock and dam. When water
is released from the dam, the trash that builds up behind it is swept
through.
After the release, the trash came floating down the river,
spanning from bank to bank. Members of the WVU crew team’s coaching
staff showed up to help. BOPARC also helped in the cleanup efforts. The
Solid Waste Authority will collect the garbage bags, which were left on
Walnut Street, Terman said. WVU senior Josh Dyer said he was doing it
as part of the community service element for his senior project. “I’m
shocked [by] how much trash there is,” he said.
Some of the items, such as soda and beer bottles, plastic
foam and chewing tobacco tins, weren’t a surprise, Dyer said. But other
items, such as tires, seemed odd to find in the river.
Terman said the work could be made easier by the addition
of a few relatively inexpensive aids.
For instance, floating litter booms could prevent the
garbage from traveling down the river, he said. Terman said it would
cost a few thousand dollars to put a few in the river.
He called on local agencies or residents to find funding
for booms.
But the booms weren’t in place for Wednesday’s cleanup,
and crews had to navigate the river and collect the trash. They didn’t
get it all, but Terman said they made a good dent. It is probably going
to take two or three more trips to clean the area along the Wharf
District.
“I’m real pleased, [if] you come look in Morgantown
Harbor, it looks pretty good,” Terman said.