Detroit River shore cleanup celebrates World Rivers Day
Members of the community showed the Detroit River some love Saturday as part of celebrations for World Rivers Day.
They came to McKee Park in Windsor’s west end armed with rakes, gloves and garbage bags ready to clean up the shoreline park. Volunteers learned about the Detroit River Canadian Cleanup, a community-based initiative aimed at enhancing, restoring and sustaining the river’s ecosystem.
Gina Pannunzio, a remedial action plan assistant with the DRCC, told a small crowd how efforts by DRCC and other like-minded groups on both shores have resulted in significant milestone improvements.
Two indicators of the river’s water quality are now considered restored and no longer on an impaired list.
The frequency of beach closures along the river is now no different than that of other area beaches while the esthetics of the river have also been boosted.
Researchers monitored closures from bacterial counts of river beaches at McKee Park and White Sands in Amherstburg compared with those fronting lakes at Holiday Beach and Sandpoint Beach.
“Closures are now no higher in frequency,” Pannunzio said of McKee and White Sands.
As for esthetics, Pannunzio said researchers monitored 11 sites for signs of pollution, litter, debris and odour.
“Because of the absence of a lot of things that indicate pollution, the esthetics improved,” Pannuzio said. “It’s all really positive stuff.” Akol Manyiel and his friend Ahmed Al-Shammari came to lend a hand in the park cleanup.
Asked if either would be trying out one of the demonstration kayaks available courtesy of Windsor Adventure Inc., both were quick to say no.
“I don’t really like the water that much,” 18-year-old Manyiel said.
“I flinch when I shower,” added 26-year-old Al-Shammari. “But I’m happy to help out. This is one of the first parks I came to when I moved here from Ottawa four years ago.”
This was the first time DRCC marked World Rivers Day with an onshore celebration. World Rivers Day is recognized in more than 60 countries.
“Hopefully in the future we’ll have more celebrations showing the river is going in the right direction,” Pannunzio said.