Nonprofit group working with the county and state to remove abandoned boats from waterway

Georgetown’s waterway looks a lot nicer today thanks to a major cleanup project conducted by The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources and Wounded Nature – Working Veterans.
They have been working the past couple of weeks removing abandoned and sunken boats.
So far, 11 abandoned boats have been removed from river in the vicinity of the Harborwalk boardwalk and Goat Island.

Once out of the water, Georgetown County works crush them and they will be taken to the landfill.

The work is not cheap. Rudy Socha – Chief Executive Officer of Wounded Nature – said it costs about $10,000 to get an abandoned sailboat with a mast out of the water and into a landfill and could be upwards of $20,000 if it’s sunken.

He said the state provides manpower and equipment but does not provide funds.
He said removing the boats not only beautifies the area, it also makes the water safer because many of the boats contain contaminants that pollute the water and makes it dangerous for fish and wildlife.
Adrian Dolcus, a Wounded Nature volunteer, said the organization has been removing derelict boats from waterways in Charleston County for about seven years. He said they have now expanded to Georgetown and Beaufort.

“We really care about coastal waterways and the environment. We also plant oyster beds in the spring,” he said. “The boating thing is kind of an epidemic. We deal a lot with homeless people and elderly people who had a boat. Sometimes people don’t want to pay for a marina so they will drop an anchor behind the steel mill,” he said.

 

Click here to learn more about Wounded Nature.