World Water Day 2024

On Saturday, March 23^rd, 72 volunteers gathered on a cool and windy morning where the Wolf River meets the Mississippi River at the north end of Mud Island.  From there, the volunteers and Wolf River Conservancy staff began the World Water Day cleanup project, leading the charge to remove litter from the banks of the Wolf River and Wolf River Harbor near the Wolf River Greenwayd.  Collecting trash deposited by floodwaters from hundreds of miles away as well as trash from our own city streets, 72 focused volunteers picked through a mass of plastic pieces, water bottles, poly-foam, tires, and more.  The tedious work yielded wonderful success in cleaning up parts of two major waterways on Mud Island.   72 trash bags were filled, 24 automobile tires were pulled, and 11 large items were dragged out of the water and the floodplain.  The estimated weight of all this rubbish is over 2,000 pounds!  Living Lands and Waters assisted big time, taking some of the volunteers via boat to otherwise inaccessible locations.  

Sylvamo, the sponsor of this year’s World Water Day for this year, also provided their own volunteers who scaled down the banks of the Wolf River to gather widely scattered litter.  Six Wolf River Conservancy river guides volunteered via kayak, collecting what others could not reach.  

Thank you to everyone who was able and willing to celebrate World Water Day on a breezy Saturday morning by making a big difference!

We also wish to thank Sarah Houston and Scott Schoefernacker of Protect Our Aquifer for their launching our World Water Day celebration by delivering the “State of the Aquifer” via our webinar series.  If you missed their terrific presentation, find it on our YouTube channel here.

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