The update below has been provided by Don Doucette, chairman, of the Friends of Pomham Rocks Lighthouse. A hearty round of thanks goes out to the FPRL volunteers who help make their community a better place through this annual clean-up effort!
Friends of Pomham Rocks Lighthouse volunteers clean-up the shoreline of Lighthouse Cove in Riverside, RI (Photo by Don Doucette)
The Friends of Pomham Rocks Lighthouse (FRRL) recently conducted its annual April shoreline cleanup of Lighthouse Cove situated between Pomham Rocks Lighthouse and the East Bay Bicycle Path in Riverside, Rhode Island.
Heretofore, FPRL has teamed with the City of East Providence www.eastprovidenceri.net to conduct this event. The same mutual team effort applied this year, but with a new twist with the addition of a third partner, United Water.
United Water www.unitedwater.com subcontracts the management of the City of East Providence Waste Water Treatment Plant and assumed this responsibility not long ago. And because United Water finds itself a close neighbor to Pomham Rocks Lighthouse with a common shoreline, the United Water firm has indicated its desire to involve itself with environmental community betterment projects as exampled by a good neighbor relationship with the Friends of Pomham Rocks Lighthouse.
The fact that Lighthouse Cove includes Pomham Rocks Lighthouse and United Water’s operational assets, the concept of communal shoreline cleanup along with the City of East Providence cooperation fits like a glove for all related parties.
The cleanup crew consisted of community volunteers, members and friends of FPRL and employees, subcontractors and extended families related to the United Water firm.
FPRL volunteers proudly gather around the large pile of debris and trash that their efforts removed from the shoreline of Lighthouse Cove. Pomham Rocks Light stands majestic in the distance (Photo by Don Doucette)
United Water hosted the gathering on the waste water treatment property and provided a tent fly, tables, coffee and goodies along with good cheer. T-shirts commemorating the 2011 cleanup event were also generously donated. As always, the City of East Providence made available protective gloves and trash bags as a main ingredient. FPRL provided their hearty crew and tools as well as the lighthouse backdrop for viewing pleasure.
Because of added cooperation, a greater distance of shoreline was serviced this year – the project fanned further south along the United Water facility. Evident were large beached fragments of flotsam consisting of telephone poll-sized pilings along with old segments of jagged wharf timbers supposedly broken away from deteriorating and abandoned docking facilities situated along the upper Bay shoreline.
If these large objects find their way back to the Bay during other high water events, they could become lethal threats to Bay boating interests. The objects were flagged by United Water personnel for removal by machine at a later date.
Bottom line, this year’s April, 2011 Pomham Rocks Lighthouse Cove cleanup was a grand enthusiastic success – indeed, a true community effort.
