Environmentalists gets his hands dirty in nation's rivers (6/18/08)

By: Sarah Zeeck

Posted: 6/18/08

Eleven years. Four barges. Thousands of miles of river. A crew of around seven people. One mission: clean the filthy riverbeds of our nation.

Chad Pregracke's mission to save the polluted riverbeds of the country began from his immersion in river life at a young age, he told a crowd of approximately 20 people in Stipes Hall Tuesday evening.

After living a life on the riverfront, spending many of his teen years assisting his brother in commercial shell diving and seeing the massive amounts of garbage on the riverbeds, Pregracke decided to take action to beautify the land. After years of failed attempts to contact local and state governmental agencies, his journey took off when he sought out sponsorship to assist in funding his plight.

"I know there's a problem, " Pregracke said. "I want to do something about it, and (the sponsors) have no idea what I'm talking about so I have to show them"

He added, "I'm going to do it at all costs and stick with it - whatever it takes."

Eventually, his persistence paid off. Commandeering a crew of six to eight people over the years and finding innovative and creative means to maneuver the trash - including the use of barges, his parent's front yard, and other equipment he could scrounge up - Pregracke met his goal by cleaning 435 miles of Mississippi riverfront.

Since then, Pregracke and his team have cleaned the Illinois, Missouri, and Potomac rivers among others, and inspired other volunteers and local citizens to keep their banks clean.

In worst cases, the rivers were so polluted that they were nearly impossible to clean, as was the case of the riverfront in Joliet, IL.

"We got up by Joliet (…) it was nothing but tires and barrels, condoms and Tampax, as far as you could see," he said. "It was just straight up open sewers (…) when you go to pull up a tire out of the mud, oil just oozes everywhere you go. It's the most polluted place you'd ever been. We worked there for weeks and didn't even dent it."

Of his next journeys, Pregracke hopes to clean up Dallas City, Burlington, and New Boston. For more information and to contact Pregracke, visit www.livinglandsandwaters.org.