Student volunteers joined Auburn University Water Resources Center in setting out Friday with a mission to clean Parkerson Mill Creek on campus, beginning at the Wellness Kitchen and ending at the corner of Biggio Drive and West Samford Ave.
44 people, mostly students, attended the creek cleanup along the half-mile stretch and collected six 55-gallon bags of litter, two folding lawn chairs and one inflatable pool. These items otherwise would eventually end up in the Tallapoosa River, the watershed in which Auburn University resides.
A watershed, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), is an area of land that channels rainfall, snowmelt, and runoff into a common body of water.
“If people throw stuff on the ground, it goes into a stream,” said Eve Brantly, director of Auburn University Water Resources Center. “While you may not think it directly impacts you, at some point, your drinking water is going to be pulled from a stream.”
While organizers noted that events like this are important to help clean up polluted waterways, they also emphasized the importance of keeping litter out of waterways in the first place. Attendees added that Auburn University makes it easy to put trash into trash bins and recycling into recycling bins, which are located all over campus.
A volunteer picks up trash at Parkerson Mill Creek Cleanup on February 16th 2024.
Several organizations were represented at the cleanup including the Brave Heart Center for Place and Purpose, Sustainability Students, the Women’s Club Ultimate Frisbee team and the Wildlife Society.
“It’s fun to bring communities together and then everybody knows each other because the world is small,” said Evie Moellering, a senior environmental science major and Women’s Ultimate Club Frisbee team member.
While cleaning the creek, attendees found items that reminded them to be mindful of where trash ends up.
“There was a left AirPod and a lot of those streamers like from shakers. It makes you very conscious of going to games and where those end up,” said Alexa Kloske, a senior environmental science student and Women’s Ultimate Club Frisbee team member. Organizers also emphasized the importance of connecting to local waterways.
“Events like this give people a way to not only get close to water bodies, but also to care for them,” said Laura Cooley, Auburn University Resources Center project manager. “There’s this element of starting to really connect with your waterways and starting to see yourself as someone who cares for them, and I think that’s kind of a lifelong thing that people will take away from events like this.”
Friday’s creek cleanup is part of a larger grant effort that the Water Resources Center and Risk Management Safety Group are doing alongside the city of Auburn and the Lee County Rotary Club.
“The general purpose is to raise awareness and education about how pollutants get into our water bodies,” Cooley said. “A lot of people don’t realize that things that get washed into storm drains end up in our streams.”
The initiative involves placing stickers that mark storm drains and which local watersheds they drain to on campus and around Auburn. While the drains on campus will have the Auburn University logo, drains in the community will have logos designed by local fourth graders.
“There will be different drawings from fourth graders that won our contest that will be on their decals in specific neighborhoods,” Cooley said.
Auburn University Resources Center hosts multiple water cleanup projects each year. People can sign up for the center’s email list or check their website for more information on upcoming events.
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