PITTSBURGH -- A massive effort to clean up one of southwestern Pennsylvania's the greatest assets culminated Saturday with the 20th annual River Sweep.
Volunteers targeted 22 sites in five Pittsburgh-area counties Saturday, and this year may be more important the ever.
"I guess one thing that maybe is good at many of the sites we visit over the years (is) we're finding less trash along the rivers. Although, when the high water comes up from the floods, it certainly brings up more of the debris onto the banks," said Chuck Duritsa, Pennsylvania commissioner to Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission.
"We want people to take care of our rivers, and while we've seen a decrease in the amount of trash over the years, we still have trash in the rivers and we need to get it cleaned up," said Betsy Mallison, Pennsylvania River Sweep coordinator.
This year, many more people will see and experience the rivers of western Pennsylvania.
"(The) G-20 is an important event coming to our city, and we want our rivers to sparkle, to clean up the debris along the river so that we look really good when all those nations come to visit," Mallison said.
"We do this every year, whether we're having company or not. The river is a life form. People depend on the river for drinking, we depend on the water for commerce and for a whole bundle of recreation," said Jack Walters, of the Allegheny County Sportsmen's League Inc.
The biggest piece of debris that could not be removed Saturday was a submerged cement truck in the Ohio River near Pittsburgh's West End.
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