Douglasville-Douglas County Water and Sewer Authority (WSA) employees joined forces last Saturday with Boy Scout Troop 900 to remove 700 pounds of trash from Dog River.

The 26 volunteers were participating in the annual Rivers Alive Cleanup. This is a statewide event held each October, sponsored by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources’ Environmental Protection Division (EPD) and the Georgia Department of Community Affairs.

Members of the U.S. Naval Sea Cadets also joined in the all-day cleanup near the Highway 5-Dog River bridge, Flyblow Creek and the dry reservoir bed near the Dog River Recreation Complex.

“We picked up 700 pounds of trash, of which 120 were recyclable,” said Barbara Williams, project coordinator for WSA. “The oddest items were a pay phone and mailbox. Other items included five tires and two rims, two oars, a broken shovel, carpenter tape, a five-gallon bucket, tricycle, PVC pipe and a lot of plastic and aluminum.”

Other Douglas Rivers Alive pickups scheduled this Saturday:

• Sweetwater Creek, by Friends of Sweetwater Creek State Park, meeting at 8:30 a.m. at the new visitors center, tours of the old mill ruins after the cleanup, $3 parking fee, call Bill Cahill, 770-942-2555;

• and Anneewakee Creek, by Boy Scout Troop 745, call Johnny Barron, 770-920-3835, days; or, 770-595-1434 nights.