You drink it. You clean with it. You shower in it. You swim in it. You fish in it. You have fun in it. 

Sometimes it is sparkling and shimmery and clear, but unfortunately, sometimes it is dark and murky and has debris floating in it. Yuck. Guess what it is.

It is water! Litter and debris can make something so wonderful, like water, so disgusting. I don’t know about you but I am really not interested in swimming, boating and playing around in water that is polluted. I certainly don’t want to drink it.

Water – well, actually, clean, clear and healthy water – is something that we take for granted every day. To have water that we would want to drink and to swim in and all the other uses that we have for water, we have to protect our local waterways. 

Your chance to make a difference for clean, healthy waterways is happening next month. The health of our local creeks, streams, rivers and even the ocean is determined by the choices that we make every day. 

So next month, make a positive difference by volunteering on Oct. 27 for our annual Rivers Alive events in Liberty County.

Rivers Alive is a statewide effort to preserve and protect our waterways in Georgia. Rivers Alive events are also 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 on Saturday, Oct. 27. Rivers Alive in Liberty County is a registered event for this national volunteer drive. 

The health of our waterways depends on us. At Rivers Alive, we can make a difference as volunteers by stopping litter in its tracks at over forty locations in our county. Trash that begins its life as litter in the west end of the county is just as devastating as trash tossed from a boat in the Intercoastal Waterway. 

Unfortunately, trash travels. We have cleanups throughout the county because our community is full of wetlands, creeks and streams. About 40 percent of Liberty County is actually wetlands, marshes, creek, streams and rivers. It is crucial to stop litter before it makes its journey downstream. 

We like to catch litter where it happens before it ends up in deep rivers and the ocean where litter retrieval becomes a very challenging situation. Litter anywhere in our county threatens the waters throughout our community.

Our goal is to have more than 900 volunteers this year. Last year we had 864 and with your help, we can actually surpass that. We already have a number of groups registered with over 350 volunteers at this point. 

We are thankful to all the folks who have already registered to volunteer, but we still need you. In just a few hours of your time, you can make a powerful difference where you live. Oh, and don’t worry. We will make sure you are through before any big games come on TV.

We try to make these cleanups enjoyable, too.  We will have official Rivers Alive t-shirts for the first 500 volunteers registered, so they are going fast. We also provide all the cleanup supplies for our hardworking volunteers. SNF Chemtall, our sponsor, provides a fabulous cookout for volunteers at Riceboro Creek Park on Highway 17 South after the cleanups. We really appreciate SNF Chemtall’s support because these cleanups would not be possible without them. 

So plan to make a difference and contact us at Keep Liberty Beautiful by calling 912-880-4888 or emailing klcb@libertycountyga.com. If Oct. 27 does not work for you and your group, we can schedule a cleanup date that does. 

From Walthourville to the Atlantic Ocean, our waterways need you. Do not take clean water for granted. Join us for Rivers Alive.