Protecting Delaware Valley Waterways By Being Active, Having Fun

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - River Days have returned to the Delaware Valley.

Aimed at celebrating and protecting the Delaware River and other waterways, the event kicked off Friday evening at Water Works Fairmount.

"River Days is an opportunity for everybody to come out and enjoy being on the river through a whole series of events," explains Linda Mead, President and CEO of D&R Greenway Land Trust.

They are one of 23 environmental education centers throughout the region who form the Alliance for Watershed Education of the Delaware River. That's who hosts River Days.

"The ultimate goal is to get everybody to be a local hero," says Mead. "To learn how to protect and care for the clean drinking water 15 million people get from the Delaware River Watershed."

They accomplish that through these dozens of events.

"Some of them are on the water, some are on the land," Mead says. "There's hikes, there's biking trails, there's also opportunities to be involved with trash cleanups. If you want to lend a hand you can plant native plant gardens."

The full list of events is available here.

This year, The East Coast Greenway has partnered with River Days. They are hosting a ten-week East Coast River Relay.

"It's a series of events happening at all 50 rivers on the east coast," says East Coast Greenway Alliance Executive Director Dennis Markatos-Soriano. "We want to get the word out how important it is to get outdoors, get active, be healthy."

Shawn McCaney and the William Penn Foundation are sponsoring River Days.

"Our foundation is interested in protecting water quality in the region and one of the ways to do that is build interest and awareness about the importance of water quality," he says.

River Days runs through October 20th.

In:
• Delaware Valley
• Delaware River
• Community
• Environment
• Philadelphia