Gearing Up for 2011

The 2010 Renew Our Rivers cleanup totals for the Southern Company service area was 634,805 pounds of trash removed from the waterways.

The cumulative Renew Our Rivers cleanup total from the Southern Company service area for eleven years of cleanups (2000-2010) has now reached over 11,497,560 pounds of trash removed. That is a lot of trash removed by volunteers and company support personnel. What started at Plant Gadsden by Gene Phifer during the summer of 1999 has really taken on a life of its own.

The good news is that the large items we found in the past are becoming fewer in number in our targeted areas. We are expanding our areas of coverage with new volunteers each year. We still face areas that continue to have large quantities of hand trash due to watershed run-off; however, progress in being made in some watersheds with cleanups in the upstream areas. We have also reached a place where other renewing activities besides cleanups are taking place. An example is the work done by Gulf Power with planting wire grass plugs and long leaf saplings by staff and volunteers.

Cleanups are and will continue be the main emphasis in some locations, but future projects that help by renewing our resources with community involvement is another long term goal. We are not there yet but we are moving toward that goal.

There has been continued interest in the Renew Our Rivers program is other parts of the country. The ROR website has helped spread the word.

Renew Our Rivers continues to grow as a way for the community to make a difference!

Congratulations on another successful year!