Over the past 22 years, a volunteer group known as Operation SPLASH (Stop Polluting Littering And Save Harbors) has removed more than 1 million pounds of garbage from the bays that line the south shore of Nassau County.
Though members of SPLASH are on the bays seven days a week, once a year the organization hosts a larger cleanup inviting citizens to spend a morning removing garbage from the marshlands around the bays. This year’s event, dubbed OpSPLASH 22, took place on March 24. Some 270 volunteers showed up at Bay Park in East Rockaway and in three hours removed more than 32,000 pounds of garbage.
Aside from cleaning up, SPLASH attempts to raise awareness about bay pollution by giving presentations in schools and lobbying local politicians.
“They [politicians] hold the key to making things right,” said Rob Weltner, president of SPLASH.
Click the following photo to see more images from OpSPLASH 22
Some 270 volunteers chipped in to collect more than 32,000 pounds of garbage at OpSPLASH 22 on March 24 (LIR photo by Fran Berkman)