Final results of the 19th Annual Spring Shoreline Beautification Cleanup at Missouri’s Lake of the Ozarks have been tallied, and they show this year’s volunteers removed 1,690 cubic yards of trash and debris—weighing 130 tons—from more than 500 miles of shoreline. Participating in this year’s event were 749 volunteers from 66 Adopt-the-Shoreline member groups, with additional help provided by countless residents, second homeowners and other civic-minded individuals.
While that is an impressive amount of trash and debris collected, it was actually about half the amount collected during the 2009 spring cleanup in spite of having about the same number of volunteers.
“That shows the lake is getting cleaner,” says AmerenUE Shoreline Management Field Coordinator Bryan Vance, “because it means there was less trash in the lake for the volunteers to find.” Vance says the key reason for the reduced amount collected is that most Adopt-the-Shoreline groups reported finding significantly less foam flotation material in their areas.
“In past years, foam flotation material that had broken off or was discarded from boat docks has been the number one source of man-made debris in the lake. Finding less of it enabled some groups to clean areas they have had to bypass in past years. This clearly shows that 19 years of shoreline cleaning, along with AmerenUE’s ban on non-encapsulated dock foam that became effective two years ago, has had a significant positive impact on Lake of the Ozarks shoreline,” Vance adds.
In this year’s cleanup, volunteers began cleaning their areas of shoreline in March, and some group cleanups continued well into May.
AmerenUE, which sponsors the Adopt-the-Shoreline program, paid more than $30,000 to dispose of the debris collected. In addition, numerous local organizations and individuals donated boats and other equipment the volunteers needed to make the event a success.
For information on adopting shoreline, or the upcoming 2010 Fall Cleanup, call 573-365-9252.
AmerenUE, founded in 1902, provides electric and gas service to approximately 1.2 million customers across central and eastern Missouri, including the greater St. Louis area. UE serves 57 Missouri counties and 500 towns. The company's electric rates are among the lowest in the nation. For more information, visit www.amerenue.com.
# # #
Contact: Mike Cleary, 573-681-7137