By Lindsay Box

Improperly discarded items that end up in our waters can cause harm to human health, wildlife, and recreation. While trash and litter can be removed from inside the Spokane River each year, we must also focus on preventing trash and litter from entering the river in the first place. That is why the annual Spokane River Clean-Up is so important.

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Each year, The Lands Council, along with many other conservation districts, watershed groups, and local organizations, offer annual river and stream cleanups on the Spokane River.

The essential message of the Spokane River Clean-Up is ‘together, we can make a big difference.’ Each year, HUNDREDS of volunteers remove over FOUR TONS of garbage from our riverbanks. FOUR. TONS.

Though this year’s clean-up is going to look a little different and present a few challenges, cleaning up our river is of vital importance and small efforts can make big impacts. We all live in a watershed and our actions on land directly affect the quality of our water.

Pollution picked up by stormwater flowing into our river not only negatively impacts aquatic species, wildlife, and their habitats, but also spreads disease to humans and jeopardize the health of our communities, families, and pets.

Whether it’s maintaining your septic, composting yard and kitchen scraps, properly disposing household hazardous wastes, or participating in our river clean-up, keeping our water clean is everyone’s duty.

9 Simple Ways To Reduce Waste In Your Home

Get to know the rules of recycling.
Ditch the plastic bags.
Make a meal plan.
Start relying on reusable containers.
Start composting.
Learn to repair rather than discard.
Cancel unnecessary mail.
Stop using disposable plates.
And at the very least, stop buying plastic water bottles, please.

Together we can make a change and improve the health of the Spokane River. Help us by signing up today!