ROGERS (KFSM) -- July is Lakes Appreciation Month in Arkansas, and dozens of volunteers at Hobbs State Park collected trash along the Beaver Lake shoreline Saturday (July 8).
"I knew people were careless sometimes with their trash and outdoors," said first time volunteer Sherrie Gavin, "but I didn't expect so many tires to be collected."
After the busy July Fourth holiday weekend at Hobbs State Park, Conservation Area Interpreter Rebekah Penny said the annual project came right on time. "The lake sees a lot of recreation and use especially this time of year, so it's wonderful to have people showing that they care about keeping it clean."
More than 420,000 people in parts of Arkansas and Oklahoma depend on drinking water from Beaver Lake.
"It's vital to our clean drinking water that people take an interest in caring for our water and our resources," said Penny.
Dot Neely with Beaver Water District says it's some of the best water around." We have some of the highest [quality] drinking water in the country right here in Northwest Arkansas."
But, that's not to be taken lightly, Neely also believes that the cleaner the lake, the easier it is to keep producing high quality drinking water.
When visiting a state or local park officials suggest whatever you bring into the park that it makes out with you.