Renewable Water Resources sweeps debris from the Reedy River

GREENVILLE, SC – Renewable Water Resources employees and volunteers took part in the 27th annual Statewide Beach Sweep/River Sweep last weekend.

Each year thousands of people volunteer for the Sweep, South Carolina’s largest one-day litter cleanup of beaches, marshes and waterways. This included about 40 Renewable Water Resources employees and volunteers from Black and Veatch Engineering, who tackled the 1.5 miles of the Reedy River that flows through ReWa’s property adjacent to the Greenville Health System Swamp Rabbit Trail.

“This was a notably exceptional cleanup” said Blake Visin, Director of Information Systems at ReWa and River Sweep coordinator. “Five years ago, we would pull 200 tires and about three tons of garbage from our stretch of the river. This year, only 14 tires and about a ton of garbage were collected.”

In addition, Boy Scout Troop 521 and family members from St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Greenville cleaned a one mile stretch of the Brushy Creek which borders ReWa’s property as it meets the Reedy.

“This has been a great program for the Boy Scouts to assist with protecting our local waterways,” Visin said.

The S.C. Department of Natural Resources once again partnered with the S.C. Sea Grant Consortium to organize the statewide event, which is held in conjunction with the Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup. Beach Sweep/River Sweep is South Carolina’s largest one-day volunteer cleanup event of its kind. ReWa staff along with thousands of South Carolinians clear local beaches, rivers, lakes, marshes, and swamps of aquatic debris. The cleanup, organized by the S.C. Sea Grant Consortium and S.C. Department of Natural Resources, has taken place annually since 1988. Once the Sweep is over, the Ocean Conservancy tallies all of the debris data. This data helps us identify the sources of litter so we can stop pollution before it starts.

For more information about the annual Beach/ River Sweep, visit http://www.scseagrant.org/.

Renewable Water Resources (ReWa)

ReWa’s goal is to promote a cleaner environment, and to protect the public health and water quality of the Upstate waterways, while providing and developing the necessary sewer infrastructure for the growing economy. ReWa serves more than 400,000 industrial, commercial and residential customers in Greenville County and parts of Anderson, Spartanburg, Pickens and Laurens Counties. For more information, visit www.rewaonline.org.

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