For the 10th year, residents of the Quad Cities will give up part of their weekend to clean up along creeks and rivers. This year's Xstream Cleanup will be held at about 40 sites.
The chairman, Curtis Lundy, says during the first nine years, volunteers collected nearly 900,000 pounds of trash, including tires, toilets, bicycles, appliances and furniture.
"The first year, my buddy and I and his two kids were walking down a stream and one of us stubbed our toe, and it turned out to be a 9.9 horsepower outboard engine. Not too far from that, someone picked up a laptop."
Lundy says one measure of the success of the Xstream Cleanup is that some sites are in such good shape now, they only require what he calls a "maintenance level" of cleanup each year. Another measure is the strong community support.
"Nobody's getting paid to do it. The community is saying this is important to us and we're willing to work ourselves. When you get 100,000 pounds a year out of your waterways, you know you're making a difference."
About 15-hundred volunteers will work at sites in Rock Island and Scott counties, including Nahant Marsh and Credit Island in Davenport, and Sunset Park in Rock Island. The cleanup will be held Saturday from 8:30 until 11:30 am.