Students Wade to Make a Difference

by Alexander Shores

On April 7th, the 2018 Stream Clean-Up collected 500 bags of trash, 2,000 pounds of scrap metal, and 120 tires, among other garbage found along and in the Perkiomen Creek and Perkiomen Watershed.

On Saturday, the Perkiomen Watershed Conservancy led an annual day for cleaning up all litter and other trash from the Perkiomen Creek

Among the common types of garbage found, some volunteers found a sofa, a 1950s washing machine, an engine block, and a fully functional cell phone.

Every year, pedestrians, drivers, nearby homeowners, and other passerbyers throw their garbage along the Perkiomen Creek without any regard for the environmental consequences that could occur. The purpose of the Stream Clean-Up and the Perkiomen Watershed Conservancy is to not just clean up the Perkiomen Creek, but also to educate people of all ages on how to protect the environment and be careful about where they throw their trash.

Volunteers of the Stream Clean-Up event worked in groups and divided the area into different sites, collecting as much trash as they could in their area.   Despite the messy nature of the day’s tasks, many volunteers seemed to enjoy the experience.

“It was great that we were cleaning up trash in the Perkiomen Watershed. The issue is that the trash was there,” responds Ben Yeiser, a PV student and participant in the Stream Clean-Up.

Some of Perkiomen Valley’s Envirothon Club and AP Environmental Class attended as well to help in this endeavor.

“The reason we participated in the Stream Clean-Up was to help our Perkiomen Valley Community. The idea of the Perkiomen Watershed Conservancy is to educate people,” says Mrs. Gallagher, a volunteer and the teacher in charge of the PV Envirothon Club.

Along with these students, the Perkiomen Valley football team was also there helping clean up the watershed, and assisted in collecting lots of trash, recyclables, and scrap metal.

“We try to get out in the community as a way of giving back to the people who support us every Friday night at the football games,” says Mr. Heist, head football coach and participant in this event. “Our kids have also genuinely started to enjoy how it feels to help someone else.”

The Perkiomen Watershed Conservancy’s 2018 Stream Clean-Up, but without the full support of the Perkiomen Watershed community, the watershed’s streams and creeks will not stay clean for very long, and the environment will suffer.  Find ways to help out the Perkiomen Watershed Conservancy and protect the environment you live in, whether that means being careful about where you throw your garbage, or participating in one of the Conservancy’s many opportunities to help the Perkiomen Watershed.