Spartanburg Water lake wardens are asking for volunteers Saturday, Sept. 17, to attempt to exceed 2015’s record-breaking Lake Sweep numbers: 250 volunteers and 20,000 pounds of trash. Volunteers can expect to get dirty by removing cans, bottles, plastics, tires and metals from areas around Lakes Bowen and Blalock.

The event is part of the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR) Beach Sweep/River Sweep, the statewide effort to keep South Carolina’s waterways clean of debris. Area schools, colleges and community organizations are invited to participate in Spartanburg Water’s 28th annual Lake Sweep.

“According to the SCDNR, our group assembled the largest number of volunteers and collected the most trash,” said Lake Warden Dustin Mendenhall, event organizer. “That is for the entire state of South Carolina, so we are tremendously grateful to those volunteers who take the time, some of them for many years, to help us keep our watershed clean.”

Spartanburg Water hosts Lake Sweep every fall to protect the local water supply and to ensure that the citizens of Spartanburg County continue to have an excellent source of drinking water and a recreational resource for the future.

All volunteers should meet at the Lake Bowen Warden’s office by 7:30 a.m. for registration and complimentary doughnuts and coffee. Teams will begin assembling at 7:45 a.m. and buses will be departing for clean-up sites at 8 a.m.

For more information on volunteering for Lake Sweep, contact Dustin Mendenhall at dmendenhall@spartanburgwater.org or call 864-592-2240.

– article submitted by Lisa Oliphant