2024 Update

For years, the Catawba Riversweep has been held on the first Saturday of October. Little did we know when we began planning for this year’s cleanup that it would fall in the wake of one of the most destructive storms our region has ever seen. We are heartbroken to see the devastation that Hurricane Helene has wrought in our river basin and beyond, and our thoughts are with everyone impacted by the storm. As the water recedes, we, along with so many others, are assessing what can be done to help those in need and to clean up our water and communities. This Saturday, Riversweep will be just the beginning of many cleanups that we will host to begin the process of restoring our waterways to the safe and beautiful places we love.

Riversweep on October 5, 2024 will look different than we originally planned. As various regions continue to experience flooding, power outages, and major destruction to property, we have made the decision to indefinitely postpone all Riversweep sites located in the Northern and Southern basins. This includes all sites on Lake James, Lake Rhodhiss, and Lake Hickory, as well as on Fishing Creek Reservoir, Great Falls, and Lake Wateree. Additionally, sites located on Lake Norman, Mountain Island Lake, and Lake Wylie, are not expected to be accessible to volunteers due to those lakes expected high water for several weeks.

We are hopeful that the land based sites along Charlotte creeks and streams, along the South Fork in Gaston County, and land sites in York County will be places where volunteers can join in the clean-up this Saturday. These sites will monitored for accessibility throughout the week and we will communicate which of these sites are to remain open on Friday, October 4th. 

If your site is postponed, we will be sure to communicate to you when a clean-up at your preferred site had been rescheduled later this fall. We know that many of these sites are going to be in dire need of clean-up once the waters have receded and we know that you want to lend a hand to be a part of those efforts. Cleaning up our waterways and shorelines after Helene will not be a quick or easy task, but it gives us great hope to know that so many people are ready to help their communities and natural spaces recover.

What is Riversweep?

For decades, citizens around the Catawba River Basin have been cleaning up their river, lakes, creeks, and streams to make sure their waterways look beautiful, are safe for swimming and fishing, and are free of pollution.

The Catawba Riversweep is one day a year when citizens from all over the Catawba-Wateree River Basin come together to clean up on the same day. October 5, 2024 will be a day when thousands of neighbors come together at dozens of sites from Lake James to Lake Wateree and everywhere in between. It will be a day of hard work, fun, fellowship, and action!

For the past two decades, in partnership with the Lake Wylie Marine Commission, the Catawba Riverkeeper Foundation has been holding an annual Lake Wylie Riversweep. The dedicated volunteer leaders of this event have generously shared their knowledge with many other community groups across the basin who wanted to start their own Riversweeps!

Beginning in 2020, all of these local organizing groups began coming together to show their communities the impact that collaboration and cooperation can have on the health and cleanliness of our River.

With just 3 short hours of your time, you too can say “I AM A RIVERKEEPER!” You can register as an individual, a business, a school, a church, a neighborhood, or a group of friends today and be a part of the largest river cleanup in the Southeast.

Participating in Riversweep made me feel like I was a part of something bigger than me.

– Riversweep Volunteer