HOUMA, La. (AP) - More than 1,000 people will spend this weekend picking up trash Saturday along Bayou Lafourche, the primary drinking-water source for Terrebonne and Lafourche.
It’s Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary Program’s third annual Bayou Lafourche Clean Up.
Alma Robichaux, BTNEP’s education coordinator, told The Courier (https://bit.ly/1enTLLb) Bayou Lafourche provides drinking water for 85 percent of Terrebonne and all of Lafourche. Despite the waterway’s importance to the community, the bayou is often littered with trash.
“Bayou Lafourche is something people see every day, but nobody really stops to take a look at it,” she said. “This is our chance to keep it beautiful, clean and healthy.”
Robichaux said the group has cleaned up more than 30 tons of garbage during the past two Clean Up efforts.
“It’s always fun to see what you’re going to find,” she said. “But it’s also a little alarming.”
Volunteers pull clothes, furniture, ice chests, tires and even toilets from the water. There are also smaller pieces of litter to collect, like plastic bags and wrappers.
Robichaux said she hopes cleaning up the mess will help volunteers and residents understand how litter affects their everyday lives.
“It shows people that this is their drinking-water supply and this is what’s happening to it,” she said. “We’re kind of bringing awareness to this issue.”
Robichaux said about 1,400 people volunteered to help with the first cleanup effort, but that number drastically decreased to 800 last year.
Things are looking up this year, though, she said. About 1,100 people have already signed up to participate on Saturday.
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Information from: The Courier, https://www.houmatoday.com
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