RHA Removes Nearly 10 Tons Of Trash From The Raritan Headwaters

BEDMINSTER, N.J. - June 30, 2015 - PRLog -- Raritan Headwaters Association (RHA), a highly respected conservation organization, announced today that over a thousand volunteers helped RHA Staff and Trustees remove 9.6 tons of litter from 40 sites in 29 towns across Hunterdon, Somerset, and Morris Counties during their annual Stream Cleanup event this spring.

From the northernmost point of the 470-square-mile Raritan headwaters region in Mount Olive to the southernmost point at the confluence of the north and south branches of the Raritan River in Branchburg, students, Scout troops, families, churches, community clubs, environmental commissions, open space committees, residents, and businesses joined together for the cleanup event on a spectacular sunny Saturday morning.

Senator Christopher (Kip) Bateman; Cindy Ehrenclou, RHA Executive Director; Jim Rokosny, Chair of the Bridgewater Environmental Commission and Raritan River Week sponsor; and Bridgewater Mayor Daniel Hayes (pictured left) also joined the stream cleanup effort at the North Branch Reformed Church in Bridgewater Township.

In three hours, the thousand-strong army of volunteers cleaned up the kind of trash one would expect to find, like tangled fishing line, plastic bags and bottles, and snack wrappers of all kinds from 47 miles of local streams and rivers. Some more unusual items were also found, including the bottom of a wagon, electric powerline parts, a mattress, the front end of a lawn mower, a Ford pickup tailgate, a leaf blower, tires, and 300 pounds of scrap metal.

“Without our dedicated volunteers’ intervention, this trash would end up affecting the drinking water supply of over 1.5 million New Jersey residents,” said Angela Gorczyca, RHA Water Quality Program Manager and Stream Cleanup Event leader. “It often makes its way downstream into the Raritan Bay and eventually the Atlantic Ocean, which is why it was also wonderful to partner with Raritan River Week during our Stream Cleanup and draw more attention to issues ‘From the Headwaters to the Ocean.’”

Generous Sponsors of RHA’s event t-shirts were: Union Township, Town of Clinton, Special T’s, Somerset County Solid Waste Management, ShopRites of Hunterdon County, Inc., Roxbury Township, Readington Township, Raritan Valley Disposal, Raritan Township, Randolph Township, Peapack-Gladstone Borough, Mount Olive Township, Morris County Clean Communities, Mendham Township, Mendham Borough, Hunterdon County Utilities Authority, Hot Rods Hot Dogs, High Bridge Borough, Glen Gardner Borough, Flemington Borough, Far Hills Borough, Delaware Township, Crown Trophy of Flemington, Clinton Township, Califon Borough, Bridgewater Township, Bethlehem Township, Bernardsville Print Center, Bedminster Township, and American Rivers.

More pictures from the event can be found on RHA's Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/raritanheadwaters