VALDOSTA — Lowndes county residents, organizations and students gathered along the bank of the Alapaha River Saturday to do their part in keeping it clean during the 16th annual Rivers Alive River Cleanup and Hands On Georgia Day.

From 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., 50 to 60 volunteers, each assigned to particular trail areas, collected anything from beer bottles to bullets at the county site off of Good Hope Road right outside of Naylor. This effort is part of an ongoing statewide campaign to clean and preserve Georgia’s 70,150 miles of rivers and streams.

Several Valdosta State University class groups and organizations were in attendance. Among them were an environmental science class, a sociology class and Students Against Violating the Earth (SAVE). The most common types of trash found, according to Kierria Laster, a student from the environmental science class, were bottles, cardboard and, most surprisingly, underwear.

Adrian Rivers, another environmental science student with a new found appreciation for cleaner surroundings said, “This opportunity has really opened my eyes to the negative effects litter has on our rivers.”

When asked why a sociology class would have interest in cleaning up the Alapaha River, a resource-conscious student, Stacie Studstill, gave this analytical response: “Litter is not only an environmental problem. Litter is a social problem.”

In support of the event’s host organization, Keep Lowndes/Valdosta Beautiful (KLVB), members of the Valdosta Sierra Club joined the crew. Sierra Club President Frank Barnas was spotted with this two children pulling debris out of a ditch near the river. The trio’s most peculiar discoveries of the day were a toilet seat and skeletal remains of a pit bull.

An active member of KLVB and coordinator of the event, Dr. Carl Hand, expressed his gratitude for the volunteers and his desire to keep the waterways clean year-round.

“This has become a growing issue in the state and the efforts put forth today have made a big dent in the cleanliness of this particular site.” Hand said.

Hand, also a sociology professor at VSU, mentioned that this was the first time this site had been visited. He added that since the KVLB’s cleanup efforts at the St. Augustine site across from the Lowndes County Jail began, there is a significantly lower amount of litter along the river bank.

KLVB Executive Director H. Aaron Strickland encourages Lowndes County citizens to get involved by learning about the effects of litter and promoting cleanup in the community.

“We learn by doing,” Strickland said. “Litter is not going to pick itself up. Since water is such a vital resource to us all, we must all do our part to help clean up, educate and prevent this filth from contaminating it.”

This event is one of many to take place in recognition of Annual River Cleanup Month in Georgia. Throughout October, more than 80 cleanups are to be held in streams, rivers, lakes and wetlands throughout the state.