COVINGTON, Ga. - Keep Newton Beautiful needs volunteers to help clean up local rivers, lakes, and streams on Sept. 28.  

KNB helps sponsor Rivers Alive each fall, with more than 400 people participating each year.  This river cleanup event is designed to bring awareness to water pollution prevention and solutions for water pollution problems, while actively removing litter from local waterways.  

The Newton County Rivers Alive event will be held on Saturday, Sept. 28. Volunteers will meet at 9 a.m. at Longhorn Steakhouse of Covington. They should wear shoes and long pants and prepare to get at least a little wet. Volunteers will receive t-shirts and free breakfast, while supplies last.  They will split into teams and go to local streams, lakes, and rivers to clean. 

The event will feature groups cleaning along area rivers and tributaries.  As individuals and groups meet at Longhorn, they will be assigned to various access points along the Alcovy River, South River, and Yellow River and their tributaries. KNB is also planning to send groups to clean at Turner Lake.

Interested volunteers should visit KNB’s website: http://www.co.newton.ga.us/266/Keep-Covington-Newton-Beautiful where they can print registration forms.  They should fill out forms and email them to KNB by September 20 to reserve their supplies.  Volunteers interested in designating certain places for groups to clean should email Laurie Riley at KNB at lriley@co.newton.ga.us.

“We appreciate all of the volunteers who participate every year, and we welcome those new to the event.  Our goal is to continue to grow the Rivers Alive event each year and bring greater awareness to the necessity of litter and pollution prevention”, Laurie Riley, KNB manager, said.  “We also want to thank all of our local sponsors who gave generous donations to support our event.”

The local cleanup event is a collaborative effort organized by KNB and the Georgia Wildlife Federation.  The Georgia Department of Natural Resources’ Georgia Adopt-A-Stream Program and the Keep Georgia Beautiful Foundation sponsor Rivers Alive on the state level. Local sponsors are the City of Covington, Newton County Board of Commissioners, Newton County Water Resources, Newton County Water & Sewerage Authority, Mamie’s Kitchen—Brown Bridge Road location, and Longhorn Steakhouse of Covington.

For more information, please contact KNB at lriley@co.newton.ga.us or 770-784-2015 or visit the website:  http://www.co.newton.ga.us/266/Keep-Covington-Newton-Beautiful.st