Storm Pond Cleanup

We returned to the ponds on Elmira Road (the ones with “No Littering” signs), this time armed with reinforcements: our bike carrier, gloves, grabbers, and a large pail we had rescued earlier from a ditch.

The kid came along to help.

And it was a good thing we came prepared. As we expected, the shores and waters had a large collection of plastic wrappers, bottles, cigarette butts and Tim Hortons cups. Our most interesting find was a mouthguard someone “donated” to nature.

We balanced on one foot along the shore to reach some of the trickier plastic bottles in the marsh. In a little over 45 minutes, we picked up 26 recyclables and filled our pail to the top.

These ponds drain downstream toward the Speed River, but they’re special places in their own right. We saw lots of frogs, potential turtle nesting sites, and dozens of dragonflies near the water.

We left the area much cleaner than we found it, but we’ll have to add this spot to our regular route to intercept debris before it enters the water.