Volunteers Clean Up Nive River, Find Less Waste Than Last Year

For once, a smaller harvest than the previous one is good news. For nearly two hours this Sunday, June 11, around forty volunteers descended part of the Nive by canoe or rafting in Itxassou, to clean the banks of the river. And ifthey brought back some 500 kilos of waste“the collection is less compared to the previous one“, which dated from before the health crisis, confirms Paxkal Elgart, founder of the H2O – Ura association. “Maybe the last rains and the rising waters carried the waste to the ocean, nuance Fabien Paleau, river guide who supervised the operation. But we are pleasantly surprised, the river is relatively clean.”

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On-sight cleaning

For nearly two hours, passing in front of the Pas-de-Roland and the hydroelectric power station, the boats criss-cross the river. As soon as waste is spotted, a boat stops to collect it. And there was everything, “half-buried washing machine motor“found by James, a volunteer, from a tractor tire to rubble and even an electric pole insulator.

The operation was organized by thees association H2O – Ura, Ur Tipula and Evasion 64. But on site, volunteers from Uramap, which maps the pollution sites, also came to lend a hand. Volunteer at Uramap, Valérie explains: “we realize that there are still quite a few people who throw their waste into the rivers. But our action is limited, because we can only clean up large waste. Those who are burned and scattered in the river, it’s too late.“

On site, among the volunteers, a good half were made up of children or teenagers, from the kayak club, aware of environmental issues. Awareness that volunteers and associations would like to extend, to no longer have to clean up through behavioral changes.