Mpls. holds creek/lake cleanup event Sunday

More than a thousand volunteers are expected to join an effort to clean up Minnehaha Creek and several lakes in Minneapolis on Sunday.

The annual event will take place at Lake Hiawatha in south Minneapolis, and volunteers will be shuttled to sites along the creek as well as the shorelines of Lakes Calhoun, Harriet and Nokomis.

"Our goal is to collect two tons of trash," said Telly Mamayek, a spokeswoman for the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District. "It is a goal that we met last year, and we're hoping to equal that this year. Frankly, we expect to surpass that. Based on the recent storms that hit the area, we're expecting to see more trash and debris that were churned up by the high winds and the waves."

The waste can cause problems for the water, Mamayek said.

"Trash is just like any pollution," Mamayek said. "Once it gets washed into our water systems it can impede wildlife, it can leech chemicals into the water, and it really harms the aesthetic beauty of our water resources, so we want to get as much of that trash out of the system as possible."

The event is from 9 a.m. to noon and ends with a free lunch and weighing of the trash at Lake Hiawatha Park.