Volunteers cleaning canal find trash, sense of purpose

Sarah Barbrow '05 forged through the thigh-deep, murky water of the New Jersey Delaware-Raritan Canal on Saturday afternoon.

"I found a ski boot!" she exclaimed, placing it in her plastic trash bag.

Barbrow, president of the University chapter of New Jersey Community Water Watch, was one of 25 volunteers who decided to spend the afternoon picking up trash around the canal.

Among the items found were a hubcap, a doll's head, tires and the tail of a dead animal.

The canal runs from New Brunswick to Trenton, and is parallel to the towpath for several miles.

The cleanup began behind the canal house and continued about a half mile to the Mercer County Country Club, where there was more trash, said Catherine Chou '06, the media intern for Water Watch.

"We did a site visit here and felt there was a significant amount of trash," she said.

Chou said she hoped that when people saw the volunteers cleaning up the trash, they might think twice before littering again.

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Volunteers were equipped with gloves and trash bags, donated by local residents. Some students, like Barbrow, wore hip waders to trudge through the stream and pick up trash.

Water Watch, which has chapters on college campuses throughout the state, has a three-pronged objective — to conduct river cleanups, monitor streams and educate local residents about water quality. At least one cleanup is conducted each month during the fall and spring.

According to rankings by the New Jersey Public Interest Research Group, which founded Water Watch in Princeton about 10 years ago, Mercer County is among the top 20 counties with the most impaired bodies of water in the United States. Impaired bodies of water do not meet state or federal standards and cannot be used by people or wildlife.

The majority of the trash picked up was recyclable, and Water Watch plans to recycle the bottles and cans found, volunteers said.

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"You can see right away what kind of a difference you're making," said Karen Chiang '04, who organized the cleanups.

Most volunteers said they had fun at the cleanup.

"It feels good to do something active rather than just advocate for doing good deeds," Catherine Maline '05 said.

The 25 student volunteers picked up about 50 bags of trash in all.

"It's up to our generation to make sure we take care of our environment and pass on that stewardship to our children," Chou said. "[We need] to spread this message to the community because these are community environmental facilities."