BY LIVI STANFORD
citizens news
WATERBURY — Shopping carts. Tires. Chains. Railroad tracks. Pay phones. Mattresses.
These are just examples of the hundreds of tons of debris the PAL River Brigade, a group of 11 young people have cleaned from the Naugatuck River.
The group works 25 to 30 hours a week for six weeks in the summer to clean up the debris in the Naugatuck River.
“It has always been a serious issue,” said Kevin Zac, supervisor for the River Brigade about litter and debris found in the Naugatuck River dating back to the 1700s.
“There are hundreds of tons of debris stuff including shopping carts, and mattresses. There is nothing that we have not pulled out of there.”
Mayor Paul K. Pernerewski Jr., who joined the River Brigade on July 22 to remove debris, said he wanted to highlight a group doing a good job within the city.
“This is a group doing a good job with the city,” he said. “The work they are doing is helping to clean the river. It is making a big difference. You look at all this stuff here. None of it appears organically. It is not growing in the river. Someone dumped it here.
“There is a message in there as well that hopefully young people will take back that there are consequences to your actions and that is a collective effort to keep things like the Naugatuck River clean.”
The mayor said the debris represents hundreds of years’ worth of stuff.
“This was always used as a sewer when factories were here to dump chemicals and things which we are paying for today,” Pernerewski said.”We have to change that mindset. Hopefully, the kids going out will make a change in that attitude.”
Elena Cuapio, a sophomore at Southern Connecticut State University, suited up in yellow gear Monday, one of 11 young people who are part of this year’s River Brigade.
She said she has been part of the River Brigade for six years because she says it makes her a better person.
“It makes the community a better place,” she said. “You have a safer environment.”
She said she had found a lot of debris from the flood of 1950.
She said picking up old shopping carts that have sharp edges can certainly be challenging but that it is all worth it in the end.
Finding all the debris most concerns her as she worries about the wildlife that gets entangled in the debris.
Sarah Rose, the daughter of Jennifer Rose, the press secretary to the mayor, and a college freshman at Paul Smith College, said she has been part of the PAL River Brigade for the past two years.
“I love being here,” she said. “It just makes me feel good. I did not realize how important the river was to our entire livelihood. The Naugatuck River is the reason why Waterbury, Naugatuck and other towns on it exist.”
Rose, who is studying environmental studies, said she wants to become a park ranger.
“Working at this job confirmed for me that I want to do a job that is outside all the time,” she said.
Cuapio said she wants to send a simple message: “It is not OK to litter.”
