Upper Occoquan River Cleanup

 On-River volunteers with canoes, kayaks or jon boats are needed for the annual Occoquan River clean up. On Saturday, September 21, 2024 from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. (rain date April 28, 2020September 28, 2024), is the 15th annual clean-up of the upper Occoquan River, from nine different sites along 25+ miles of the Occoquan River. The clean-up ranges from Cedar Run/Broad Run, through Lake Jackson, and from the base of Lake Jackson Dam to Hooes Run (south of Lake Ridge Marina.  During the 2023 cleanup, volunteers on both water and land collected over 1,700 pounds of trash.

This massive collection of trash from the Occoquan River happens every year and on the river is the combined effort of the Prince William Trails and Streams Coalition, Trash Free Potomac Watershed, Penguin Paddling, Prince William County Parks and Recreation Department and the Prince William Soil and Water Conservation District . Come on out and help our community. Trash bags, gloves, water and refreshments will be provided to all participants. This is a true on the river cleanup and is done primarily by boat.

Experienced kayakers, canoeists, jon boaters, and pontoon boaters are needed. To sign up for this major on-the-water conservation effort. Some kayaks and canoes will be available for loan provided by Penguin Paddling (at Hooes Run) and the Prince William County Parks and Recreation Department (at Lake Ridge Marina). As in previous years, the cleanup will be staged from multiple sites along the river, from the canoe/kayak launch area below Lake Jackson dam, down to Lake Ridge / Hooes Run. If you are not a boater, you might want to join another of the cleanups that are happening practically every spring weekend.

Please visit www.pwtsc.org for more information and to register for this event or contact Bill McCarty (wmccarty@manassaslawyers.com) or Veronica Tangiri at waterquality@pwswcd.org (571-379-7514). For cleanup supplies and data sheets to report cleanup data or to share pictures contact Veronica Tangiri waterquality@pwswcd.org (571-379-7514).

Boaters are encouraged to put-in and take-out at the same access point.  Should put-in and take-out locations differ, boaters will personally make transportation arrangements (no shuttle service will be available). 

Unfortunately, it is necessary to hold these river cleanups annually. Year after year volunteers clean our roadways, streams, rivers, and streambeds of trash that started as litter and carried along by stormwater and wind into our waterways and parks. We also remove items that were illegally dumped in the woods or carried by off by storms. Every year rain flushes huge volumes of debris off the landscape.  If we do not collect this trash ultimately it is washed into the Chesapeake Bay.