Valley Creek Renew Our Rivers Volunteers Get It Done Amid Rain Showers

By Michael Sznajderman

There was some dancing amid the raindrops, but the hundreds of volunteers who braved threatening skies near Valley Creek in Jefferson County on Saturday made a real dent in removing trash and debris from around the urban waterway.

The annual Valley Creek cleanup took place at eight locations Saturday morning, from Birmingham to Midfield to Lipscomb to Pleasant Grove. Volunteers also removed trash at a ninth location, in the McAdory community, the prior Saturday.

It is the eighth year for the cleanup, which in past years took place in the summer. In all, more than 450 people participated at the nine sites over the two weekends, said Jonika Smith with the Jefferson County Department of Health, Watershed Protection Program, which coordinated the cleanup.Valley Creek meanders some 46 miles, draining 257 square miles of western Jones Valley in Jefferson County before it empties into the Black Warrior River. According to Bham Wiki, the city of Birmingham’s first sewer system, built in the 1880s, flowed into Valley Creek. In subsequent years the creek suffered from industrial pollution.

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