Chicago River Cleanup attracts record-breaking number of volunteers

CHICAGO – The annual Chicago River Cleanup event was held Saturday morning and this year’s event attracted the most volunteers ever.

Volunteers gave just a few hours of their time for a decades-long project that has really shown its worth. They spread out more than 150 miles of the Chicago and Calumet River System to spruce up and make a difference.

Three-thousands volunteers from the city and suburbs joined Friends of the Chicago River, cleaning up 92 spots along the Chicago and Calumet rivers.

“It’s kind of a new passion for me. I have some young people in my life who are interested in the clean water supply just doing different projects at school and it peaked my interest. So the youth inspired me,” volunteer Amaris Hill said.

Over the last 33 years, they’ve carted off hundreds of tons of trash, removed invasive plants and restored open spaces.

When this all started, rivers were fenced off and polluted with garbage, sewage and industrial waste.

“We’ve done so much as a region and a community and groups like Friends to bring recreation back. So you see canoes and kayaks and people on paddleboards and people fishing, really just to make the river a second waterfront for the city,” John Quail with Friends of the Chicago River said.

The rivers are now home to 80 species of fish, more than 200 species of birds and other wildlife.

Community hubs, including Canal Shores in Evanston, were also at Saturday’s event to educate the public about the River Shallows Project. Stabilized riverbanks are good for the river and help neighboring communities mitigate the impacts of climate change.