Keeping Colorado’s water clean in honor of Earth Day
(COLORADO SPRINGS) — April 22 is Earth Day, and people across Southern Colorado are spending their time picking up trash, planting trees, gardening, and conserving water.
The Fountain Creek Flood Control and Greenway Watershed District is hosting their annual community event to clean up the Pikes Peak region on Saturday, April 27.
“When was the best time to plant a tree, it was 20 years ago. So, the second-best time is today,” said Alli Schuch the Executive Director of the Fountain Creek Watershed.
During the cleanup, volunteers can pick up trash from more than twenty trails and waterways covering more than 927 square miles along Fountain Creek. The waterway runs from Colorado Springs all the way down to pueblo until it reached the Arkansas river.
“We also have folks that are still illegally dumping and putting trash out the window,” said Schuck.
Organizers said one of the biggest focuses is to keep Colorado’s water clean.
“There’s 19 states that rely on water that’s right here in Colorado. So, we do have the ultimate responsibility as a safe guardian of that water resource for other users,” said Schuck.
She said Colorado has some of the cleanest water in the world, and the community can help keep it that way.
“It’s really our job as stewards of our local water resources to do our part for not only today, but for future generations,” she said.
The cleanup is just one of more than 15,000 happening in communities nationwide.
“There are 200 other communities that use that same water resource by the time it gets to the Gulf of Mexico. So, those sea turtles out in the middle of the ocean, you could be helping them today by picking up that piece of litter in your own neighborhood,” added Schuch.
Cleanup supplies like trash bags, gloves, trash grabbers, sharp shafts, reflective vests, eye protection and buckets are provided at no cost for all of the volunteers.
“The things that you can do on an everyday basis include… all the hours reducing, recycling, reusing, ways that you can just have a smaller footprint on this earth,” said Schuch.
Coordinators will host volunteers’ check-ins starting at 9 a.m. Children under the age of sixteen are asked to have an adult with them. Sign-ups for the cleanup ended on Monday.
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