News

Pamlico-Tar Riverkeeper Katey Zimmerman was on the water last Saturday, celebrating National River Cleanup Day with a crowd of people armed with trash grabbers and bags.

The event, hosted by the North Carolina Estuarium and the Piedmont Chapter of the Classic and Antique Boat Society, brought participants to the Washington waterfront to head out in kayaks or on boats to pick up trash along the waterfront and around Castle Island.

“It was really good to see other groups take the initiative to contribute to clean water,” Katey said. “Everyone from the Boat Society seemed really excited to be there and said they hoped to make this an annual event.”

Katey said she estimated about 35 people volunteered for the cleanup and between 200 and 300 pounds of trash were removed from the Pamlico.

National River Cleanup Day was also a family affair for Sound Rivers: among the volunteers were Katey’s mother and her partner, Sound Rivers Program Assistant Sierra Stickney Digan and her husband, and Executive Director Heather Deck and her family.

The event was capped off by lunch provided by the Boat Society.

“They also bought trash grabbers and donated them to Sound Rivers after the cleanup,” Katey said. “It was a really good event.”

(Note: a second river cleanup scheduled on the Neuse River at Clayton for the same day had to be postponed due to fast flowing water from last week’s rain. A “rain” date will be announced.)

Like the work Sound Rivers is doing to keep your waterways litter-free? We do! Donate today to support clean rivers!