This weekend I went on the Tireless James trip, which aside from going two hours later than expected and the weather being very cold, was enjoyable and eye opening. Garrett Stern, the trip leader, gave us a bit of background on the way to Howardsville – where we started the paddle toward the tires. People throw tires in the river because typical trash and waste plants will not accept them, and the river is the most feasible dumping ground where they will not get caught. This is problematic because tires leach chemicals such as benzene, mercury, styrene-butadiene, arsenic, and other toxic substances into the water that harm the ecosystem. The issue arises when these chemicals are released into the environment. They contaminate the water, and some of the chemicals bioaccumulate over time. Essentially, worn down tires are very bad for the environment. When the River Rat Training leaders talked about how tires are one of the biggest pollutants to the James, I could not fully wrap my head around that idea. After this weekend, it makes a lot more sense.
One thing about the trip that baffled me is that it is formally only an annual clean up. It is wonderful that we pulled close to thirty tires out of the river, but they have been sitting in the river for a good amount of time before volunteers get to them every year. I worked with Michael, and we found several tires that were buried deep in sediment and took a lot of effort to dig out. There were probably many more that were completely covered and will potentially stay in the river forever. If the tires have been in the river since the last clean up, they will have already leached chemicals into the water that will stay, bioaccumulate, and eventually make their way to the ocean. My point is that I think the clean up should be done more often than once a year, perhaps twice or three times. I appreciate the work that regular volunteers put in to help clean the James, but I think that this particular aspect could be improved by occurring more frequently.