(It's still a debate about whether this creek is in D.C. or Maryland, but I'm posting the story anyway. I drove by there the other day and it looks like it's split between D.C. and Maryland. Regardless, residents from D.C. and Maryland cleaned up the important estuary together).

Thousands of volunteers swept the Potomac River watershed for trash and litter. The clean up was part of a regional effort organized by the Alice Ferguson Foundation.

Jessica Forres reports…



Near busy 16th street in Silver Spring, Maryland, Katherine Trimble and her two young children comb Fenwick Branch North-Portal Tributary for trash.

I HAVE TO SAY THIS IS OUR THIRD YEAR DOING THIS. AFTER THE FIRST YEAR I STOPPED USING PLASTIC BAGS.

She and more than 12-thousand volunteers from Pennsylvania to Virginia are taking part in the 21st Annual Potomac River Watershed Cleanup. Ginny Harris...with the Alice Ferguson Foundation…organized the event. She calls us from another clean up site in Accoceek, Maryland.

IT EDUCATES PEOPLE WHAT IS FLOATING DOWN OUR DRINKING WATER, WHAT’S FLOATING DOWN THE POTOMAC RIVER AND HOPEFULLY YOU’LL START MAKING CHANGES.

A total of 30-thousand trash bags were distributed at 500 sites across the Mid-Atlantic region.

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Thousands of volunteers collected trash in the Washington, DC area as part of a regional effort to clean up the Potomac Watershed…

Jessica Forres reports...

Cars speed past local residents sweeping Fenwick Branch North-Portal for trash. It’s a small creek near busy 16th street that eventually flows into the Potomac River.
A local boy scout troop shows us what they’ve collected...

A BASKETBALL, SOME CIGARETTES

Boy Scout JEROME WALKER says it makes him angry.

BECAUSE PEOPLE JUST THROW THEIR TRASH OUT HERE WITHOUT THINKING TWICE.

Ginny Harris with the Alice Ferguson Foundation… is on her cell phone at another cleanup site in Accoceek, Maryland. Her group organized the2 1st annual Potomac River Watershed Cleanup.

HOPEFULLY YOU’LL START MAKING CHANGES . YOU’LL SEE THAT YOU CAN PICK UP A HUNDRED STRAWS IN TWO FEET OF AREA. AND THEN YOU DECIDE MAYBE NEXT TIME I WON’T GET A STRAW.
She says more than 12-thousand volunteers collected trash at nearly 500 sites throughout the Potomac Watershed.