Almost 150 miles of canals crisscross Savannah. These manmade drainage systems abound with turtles, wading birds and fish, but they’re also often rife with trash. Styrofoam cups, plastic water bottles, and takeout boxes ride in on the runoff from streets and parking lots every time it rains.
Volunteers clean them out periodically, but litter returns with the next downpour. To provide a longer range solution, the Savannah Riverkeeper recently installed seven litter booms in strategic spots along the canals. There’s one more to come near the Enmarket Arena.
Those booms work passively. As water flows along the canal it carries litter with it until floating litter hits the boom and accumulates behind it. Two booms installed by the Ogeechee Riverkeeper have been quietly collecting trash on Savannah’s southside for several years.
Clöe Lemaire, the Savannah Reuse System Outreach Coordinator for the Savannah Riverkeeper, said her organization will arrange regular trash pickups at these booms…