Rockville City Community Members Invited to Participate in City-wide Stream Clean Up

[Howard Hartman]

Rockville City Community Members Invited to
Participate in City-wide Stream Clean Up, April 5

ROCKVILLE, Md., March 27, 2008 – The City of Rockville is sponsoring a City-wide stream clean-up on April 5 and individuals, members of civic associations, scouts, religious and school groups, local businesses and families are encouraged to help pick up trash along the City’s streams and creeks. Stream clean up volunteers should meet at City Hall, located at 111 Maryland Ave., at 9 a.m. Groups will be sent to one of three locations, Woottons Mill Park, Dogwood Park, or Rock Creek Park off Southlawn Lane to ensure all three locations are attended to.
“Controlling trash buildup in City streams not only helps improve the local environment, but also improves water quality and conditions for aquatic life,” said Nate Wall, Environmental Specialist. “Trash and other pollutants travel from streets and parking lots through storm drains and into our local creeks, where it destroys natural beauty, diminishes water quality and endangers certain species.”

Three specific Rockville sites are scheduled for cleanup on April 5: Woottons Mill and Dogwood parks and Rock Creek Park off Southlawn Lane before Avery Road. Groups will be sent to the various cleanup sites to ensure all three locations will be attended to. It is highly recommended volunteers wear clothes they do not mind getting wet and dirty and wear old shoes or boots and work gloves. Wearing sunscreen and bringing water to drink also is encouraged. The clean up should end around 12 p.m.

“By the end of the clean up, we will have removed an incredible volume of debris and trash from our watershed,” added Wall. “A team of five or six people can typically remove 20 or more garbage bags of debris in just three hours, making a direct contribution toward improving Rockville’s environment.”

The City will provide groups with all of the necessary materials for the cleanups and will coordinate the removal of the cleanup debris. Students can earn Student Service Learning hours with Montgomery County Public Schools. Interested groups can stay involved by participating in Rockville’s Adopt-A-Stream program.

For more information, call 240-314-8872.

Go to this site