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Published on 11/14/02

Balls are everywhere in the river

By Mike Isbell
University of Georgia

"We just cleaned this section of the river last year," I said to Latisha, Phillip and Alex. "And it's trashier now than it was last year."

I couldn't believe this Heard County section of the Chattahoochee River could get so messed up in one year's time.

But it was.

It was a beautiful Saturday on the banks of the Chattahoochee. The sky was clear. The air temperature in the 50s, but quickly warmed into the 60s. It was a shame that the riverbank was so trashy.

I had on hip waders for the cleanup so I could wade out in the water to reach the litter the kids couldn't reach without getting wet. We hadn't worked long before Latisha wanted to wear the waders.

Balls were everywhere

Balls were everywhere. Tennis balls, softballs, soccer balls, basketballs, even balls from McDonald's were among the litter floating or washed up on the banks of the Chattahoochee. "We picked up 37 tennis balls," Alex said when I got near him.

I didn't even begin to count the ones I picked up.

Latisha, Phillip and Alex, 4-H members in Heard County, were among a larger group of 4-H'ers and parents cleaning a part of the Chattahoochee River in this year's statewide "Rivers Alive" cleanup.

As the river twists and turns on reaching the upper part of West Point Lake, litter becomes trapped along the bank and against rocks and trees lying in the water. Barrels, tires, refrigerators, lawn chairs, propane gas tanks, litter and balls of all kinds eventually settle somewhere in the river and lake.

Litter from who-knows-where

Litter constantly floats down the river from who-knows-where. But since Heard County has no McDonald's, one thing I can say with a fair amount of certainty is that those McDonald balls didn't come from here.

But you can't blame all the litter and junk on our upstream neighbors. Fish-bait containers, bottles, cans, broken lawn chairs and discarded fishing line litter the ground in areas where some "sportsmen" fish from the shore.

To keep our rivers and lakes beautiful, the litter has to be removed. That's just what this group of 4-H'ers did that Saturday. They joined thousands of other volunteers from all over our state in the annual river cleanup.

Last year the seventh and eighth grades from Ephesus School cleaned a half-mile of riverbank and removed 17 bags of litter, a few old tires and barrels, a chair, a refrigerator and lots of balls. This year we removed about 50 bags of litter, several tires, barrels, chairs and, of course, the balls.

All these kids can see they're doing something good: helping to keep our rivers beautiful.

Mike Isbell is the Heard County extension coordinator with the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

Experts/Sources:
Mike Isbell
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