Next Saturday, Keep Covington/Newton Beautiful will once again host the annual county rivers cleanup event, Rivers Alive.

Volunteers will gather at the Covington square at 8 a.m. on Oct. 18 where they will receive breakfast and a free T-shirt. Volunteers will then be split into teams and given maps of the sections of rivers to be cleaned up.

Rivers Alive will focus on the public access point of area rivers (typically where the road crosses a river) during the cleanup, beginning with the Alcovy River, which will be the chief focus of the day’s cleanup efforts. Depending on the number of volunteers, the Yellow River and the South River may also receive cleanup attention.

"We’re expecting large groups of volunteers," said KCNB Executive Director Connie Waller, adding that volunteers are welcome to select which river areas they wish to clean up. "Last year we had close to 300 volunteers so we hope to have at least that many this year."

Attendees are advised to wear long pants and shoes that they don’t mind getting wet Waller said.

"They probably should bring some sort of bug spray and gloves," she added.

In past Rivers Alive events, canoes have been used to travel down the Alcovy River during cleanup efforts, but Waller said she did not know if the river would be high enough this year to warrant such actions.

Following the cleanup, volunteers will come together at noon at the Georgia Wildlife Federation, located at 11600 Hazelbrand Road, for lunch, a river rally and some educational activities.

For more information on the event or to sign up, call KCNB at (770) 784-2015 or by e-mail at newtonclean@co.newton.ga.us. However registration is not needed to participate in the event.

"If they don’t get a chance to sign up, they can just show up," Waller said.

Rivers Alive is sponsored locally by the city of Covington, Georgia Wildlife Federation, Keep Covington/Newton Beautiful and the Newton County Water & Sewerage Authority.