River cleanup is nasty work

Up to his knees in murky river water, industrial-grade waders his only protection against the unknown junk on the muddy floor, Jeff Salt extended a long hooked pole, grabbed hold of the submerged shopping cart and yanked.

He almost tumbled into the water.

But a few tugs later, the head of the Great Salt Lakekeeper organization had the shopping cart on the banks of the Jordan River. It's a thankless job, working on the steep river bank to retrieve sludge-covered carts, now no longer useful to the grocery stores from which they came, and other trash. But Salt has been doing it regularly for about five years. The cart he yanked out Friday, near the Smith's Food & Drug at 828 S. 900 West in Salt Lake City, was No. 255 for him.

The cart likely found its way into the water after kids playing with it decided to ditch it and go home for the night. And these kids, like most kids, probably figured it would be more fun to end their escapade with a splash.

They got their hands on the cart, possibly, after a shopper with a large load to carry took the cart from the store and walked home with it. The shopper then left it on the street.

"Strictly speaking, they're not polluting the river," Salt said of the carts. "They're not putting chemicals in the river."

But the carts do create an aesthetic problem, an eyesore in the river and a boating hazard for the people who play on the Jordan.

So Salt has pulled about a dozen carts from the Salt Lake City stretch of the river — about 2100 South to 1000 North — this summer alone. And he plans to use a few volunteers with a University of Utah group this morning to help him retrieve more.

The volunteers will be working on a larger river cleanup project this morning at 8:30. They will meet at the Bend in the River trailhead at Jordan Park, 1140 S. 900 West. The public is welcome to attend and help clean the river.

It's not just shopping carts. After pulling Cart 255 from the river, Salt hops in a canoe and paddles north, passing a series of small clumps of soda cans, milk jugs, paper plates, candy wrappers, basketballs and baseballs and soccer balls and, well, you name it.

The garbage comes mostly from the storm-water drainage system, which does not feed into a treatment plant but rather the river.

"We need to come up with a strategic plan to control these consumer products," Salt said.

To remove this garbage, Salt balances himself in his canoe, scoops up what he can with a tennis racket-style tool, hooks it with something that resembles a rake, and dumps it in a garbage bag. Occasionally, county crews can use large machines to scoop up big garbage heaps, but usually it's difficult to get the machinery to the river banks.