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The annual Renew Our Rivers cleanup efforts of Lake Demopolis will take place on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 4-5.

Renew Our Rivers is an initiative of Alabama Power to promote conservation and environmental stewardship in communities across the state.

According to Jesse Johnson, local coordinator for the Lake Demopolis clean-up, volunteers are always welcome.

“We typically see about 60 on Friday and even more on Saturday since students are able to come out. We hope for more than that this year and that would be great,” Johnson said.

The volunteers will work to clean the river banks with some going out by boat to clean areas of the Tombigbee and Black Warrior rivers.

“We clean up anywhere along the water or areas that lead to the water. Basically, we cover the river from the lock and dam up past the (Greene County) steam plant,” Johnson added.

Those interested in volunteering may sign up at the City Landing pavilion. The crews will work from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Friday and on Saturday from 8 a.m. to noon.

Renew Our Rivers began in 2000 and Lake Demopolis was added to the effort in 2005. As an employee at the Greene County Steam Plant, Johnson has been coordinating the local effort since 2013.

Renew Our Rivers has already been active across the state and so far this year, volunteers have removed more than 164,000 pounds of trash and debris from Alabama lakes and rivers.

Since its inception, more than 117,000 volunteers have collected more than 15.5 million pounds of trash and debris from waterways across the Southeast.

For more information about Lake Demopolis cleanup, call 334-289-6160 or 251-238-1257.

(This article originally appeared in the Wednesday, September 25 issue of the Demopolis Times.)