W.Va. volunteers gear up for River Sweep

Thousands of volunteers are expected to participate in the annual Ohio River Sweep, scheduled for this Saturday, June 16. The event is sponsored by the Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission (ORSANCO) and involves the cleanup of 3,000 miles of shoreline in six states.

Volunteers will comb the banks of the Ohio River and its many tributaries looking for trash and debris. The River Sweep is the largest environmental event of its kind in the country.

The state Department of Environmental Protection is coordinating West Virginia’s participation in the River Sweep. Cleanups are scheduled at 21 sites in 11 counties: Brooke, Cabell, Hancock, Jackson, Marshall, Mason, Ohio, Pleasants, Tyler, Wetzel and Wood. The DEP will provide cleanup supplies and T-shirts to volunteers.

For more information on volunteering, contact the DEP’s Travis Cooper at 1-800-322-5530, ext. 1117 or Travis.L.Cooper@wv.gov. A list of West Virginia’s cleanup locations can be found at www.orsanco.org by clicking on “River Sweep.”