River Relief

Written by Stacey Cohan
03-31-05
WUSA-TV, Channel 9

Where can you find a refrigerator, an ATM machine, used tires and messages in bottles? Unfortunately, all of these things are clogging the rivers running through the nation's capital.

Thursday, volunteers begin a round-the-clock clean-up effort. Picking up trash along rivers is Chad Pregancke's passion. He grew up along the Mississippi and now runs a company that cleans up rivers.

Along the Anacostia, in a cove just north of the Wilson Bridge you could probably walk on the water. Chad and hundreds of volunteers cleaned 50 tons of trash out of here last year. Sadly, it's returned.

The quick trip to pollution thick water is the kick off of Capital River Relief. Various groups will spend the next 13 days filling the barge with river rubbish, which some consider a nation embarrassment.

A group of young men and women are the first of hundreds to head out for the soggy work of river cleanup. There are laughs and soaring hopes as they head out, but the frustration remains just beneath the surface.

The clean-up effort runs through April 22nd, which is Earth Day. For more information on how you can get involved click on the related link.

For more information, visit the WUSA-TV, Channel 9 Website

Reprinted with permission from the 03-31-05 edition of WUSA-TV, Channel 9.