Bikes and car tires are two things you can find at your local Walmart Supercenter. And inside the Onondaga Creek, those are just two examples of litter found there, but there’s a lot more.
Bill and Maude Morse are part of the Creek Rats, a nonprofit organization dedicated to cleaning the Onondaga Creek. The couple has seen an array of items on the surface and bottom of the waterway over the years.
“More recently, it’s been shopping carts, bikes, and traffic cones,” said Bill Morse. However, those are just the larger items.
According to the New York State Canal Corporation, they are responsible for maintaining navigation in that waterway. In a statement, a spokesperson wrote:
“Maintenance crews do remove large debris that impede commercial and recreational traffic, but we have historically relied on municipal and volunteer partners to address small debris in local waterways.”
As for Onondaga County, according to a spokesperson, they have a contract to skim and clean the water in the Creek, which is part of a partnership with the City of Syracuse and the Canal Corporation. These efforts typically start around Earth Day.
Smaller debris found on the surface of the Creek relies on volunteers and municipal partners, according to the New York State Canal Corporation. Those smaller items that float on the surface are equally disturbing. The heavily littered parts are especially underneath the docks. There, you can find needles, lighters, food wrappers, and bottles.
The Creek Rats organization uses canoes to transport themselves down the waterway and pick up larger items they find at the bottom of the water. From there, they coordinate with the City of Syracuse for a drop-off point.
Bill and Maude hope that when people see their efforts, they decide to help out as well.
“If they see people cleaning, then they’re less likely to throw things in here,” said Maude.
While trash is visible to the eye, there’s another element that is not so visible.
Maria Tickner, a community activist, said, “On April 18th, Onondaga Creek discharged 1,750,980 gallons of untreated sewage.” Tickner received this information from Metropolitan Syracuse WWTP.
She continued on to say that when a body of water has that much untreated sewage in it, it is unsafe for those without provisions to pick up litter from that water.
If you’re interested in helping the Creek Rats, follow this link.
