Local Group Cleans Up City's Rivers
By: Kristin Mazur
Updated: September 11, 2009
Abigail Frost likes to spend a lot of time by the river, but her time spent there isn't a form of leisure.
Frost founded the “Save the Maumee Grassroots Organization” after her family moved into a house next to the river and was astonished by what she found. The group is dedicated to raising awareness to the pollution problem taking over the city's three rivers.
“I was ready to dump a load of sand down here to go swimming and obviously we can't do that” says Frost.
Plastic bags, soda bottles, concrete poured along the riverbank, even a gas tank: those just some of the things we found while walking along the
Frost and I even came across two men’s (different) shoes. Frost spotted a tire floating in the river and without a second thought she's in the water to retrieve it. Tires can breed up to 500 mosquitoes every 4 days.
“The
80-percent of that stream water quality is inherited from the headwaters of the
“If it rains a tenth of an inch then the CSO, the combined sewer overflow, discharges into the river” she says.
Twenty-one cities dump into
One of the most interesting things she’s found: a ‘Kiss” CD in its original case.
The group will hold their 2nd Annual “Canoe-Clean UP” tomorrow September 12 from noon-5PM. For more information and how you can take part in the effort head to www.savemaumee.org or call (260)417-2500.
