This month, we are making a positive difference for our local waterways by participating in the statewide Rivers Alive waterway cleanups.
About 200 volunteers have held cleanups to make differences in nine locations in Liberty County. Several hundred more are scheduled to make a collective difference in the next week and, particularly, Oct. 25, our main-event day. We still have plenty of places around our community that could use the help of volunteers like you.
Rivers Alive is an effort to preserve and protect our waterways in Georgia. Rivers Alive events also are part of the international efforts of The Ocean Conservancy. In Liberty County. We hold our main Rivers Alive Cleanup Day on national Make a Difference Day. Rivers Alive in Liberty County is a registered event for this national volunteer drive.
So, plan to make a difference and contact us at Keep Liberty Beautiful. You can call 880-4888 or email klcb@coastalnow.net.  If the 25th does not work for you and your group, we can schedule a cleanup date that does.  
Helping at events like Rivers Alive is one way to protect and conserve our waterways, but we make choices every day that can conserve and protect our waters too. Consider these tips from National Geographic:
• About 10 gallons per day of your water footprint (or 14 percent of your indoor use) per day is lost to leaks. Try repairing leaky faucets and toilets.
• A low-flow showerhead can save 15 gallons of water during a 10-minute shower.
• Since about 70 gallons of water are needed to fill a bathtub, taking showers tend to be more water-efficient.
• Toilet flushes can add up to nearly 20 gallons a day. For standard toilets, which use about 3.5 gallons a flush, retrofitting or filling your tank with something that will displace some of that water, such as a brick, or just giving it up and purchasing a dual-flush toilet can help save water.
•  Most front-loading washing machines use about 20 gallons per load, while most top-loading machines can use 40 gallons per load.
• Save water while washing clothes by making sure to adjust the settings to the proper load size.
• Dishwashers use about 4-6 gallons of water per load, while each hand-washed load uses about 20 gallons of water.
• Nearly 60 percent of a person’s household water footprint can go toward lawn and garden maintenance.
• Cover your pool, since hundreds of gallons of water per month can evaporate.
• The average American diet uses approximately 1,000 gallons per person per day, which is more than the global average water footprint of 900 gallons per person per day for diet, household use, transportation, energy and consumption of material goods.
• It takes about 90 gallons of water to produce a serving of poultry. Also factor in the water costs for transporting food (gasoline uses water for its creation). Buying local can help here.
• A cup of coffee requires 55 gallons of water when factoring in what’s needed to grow the coffee beans.
• Wash your car less; washing a car uses about 150 gallons of water.
• A gallon of gasoline uses nearly 13 gallons of water, so car pool or take public transportation, for example, to reduce energy and water use.
Making healthy choices every day about water usage also can make powerful differences. Don’t be a drip about water conservation!

Swida is executive director of Keep Liberty Beautiful.