Volunteers turn out to help clean canal
Volunteers in Columbia County joined environmentalists from the Sierra Club on Saturday to give the Augusta Canal a face lift at its head gate at the Savannah Rapids Pavilion.
Tonya Daniel and her son Zachary, 8, make their way across the Augusta Canal headgates with a bag of trash they collected during the annual River's Alive Cleanup. About 60 volunteers participated in the event.
Photo by Michael Holahan
The River's Alive Cleanup event, which also was sponsored by Columbia County and Metro Augusta Clean and Beautiful, attracted about 60 volunteers to pick up debris in and around the canal.
William Hook-er, the Savannah River Group's chairman for the Sierra Club, said the event, which was held for the second time this year, was a good cause.
"There's a lot of debris out here," he said, adding that litter is common around the canal.
"They throw trash out in the water. People think out of sight, out of mind, and with all the rain we've had, a lot of debris has floated up on the banks."
The event culminated at Lake Olmstead and involved volunteers cleaning the canal while riding in a canoe or walking the trail.
Abby Zylla and Gregory Daglis, both 17, said they were eager to participate in the cleanup.
"We said 'hey let's go together and help clean up,'" said Daglis, a Lakeside High School student. "It's a nice experience, but when you see trash it destroys that feeling."
After finding beer bottles, cigarette butts, cans, scrap metal and old batteries, Zylla said she was disgusted.
"It's terrible that people destroy the whole meaning of peace and serenity," the Lakeside student said.
"It doesn't take much to clean up. Just get a plastic bag and pick up some trash."