Elk River Alliance volunteers recently pulled 14 car batteries out of the Elk River near Elkford.
According to a Facebook post, the batteries had been embedded in the river bank, before high water washed out the bank and the batteries were dropped into the river.
Executive director of the Elk River Alliance (ERA), Beth Millions said that she suspected the area may have been once used as a dump site.
“Rivers have a wonderful way of meandering through our Valley, and the Elk has eroded that bank and exposed the garbage,” she said.
“It’s a really unfortunate situation, but we can’t pass too much judgment for these historical actions. The reality is that our relationship with nature has not always been a positive one, and there is still room for improvement in how we manage our wastes. You only have to look around to see garbage piling up in and along waterways, and instead of passing judgment it would be far more useful to try and make things right.”
ERA volunteers cleared the batteries and a large number of pieces of metal from the river.
Millions said that given the COVID-19 situation, the ERA was encouraging groups of people (bubbles) wanting to volunteer to clear the river of garbage and weeks to reach out to them at info@elkriveralliance.ca.
“Individual groups or bubbles of people will be sent out to clean up shorelines throughout the Elk Watershed, and we’ll give them a small cleanup kit that includes bags, gloves, and snacks to fuel them in their cleanup efforts.
“Removing the batteries was a big job, and we are lucky to have such strong people to help out, but every bit helps, and we greatly appreciate anyone helping remove any amount of trash from the environment.”
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