Local businesses team up to clean the Big Sioux River

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) - Earth Day activities continue as several local businesses team up with Friends of the Big Sioux River for a clean-up event.

“From 10 to Noon we are doing a riverbank cleanup along the Big Sioux River with 4 sites in Sioux Falls, one site in Flandreau, and one site in Watertown,” said Travis Entenman, the managing director for Friends of the Big Sioux River.

The businesses participating include Remedy Brewing, ISG, Avera Pace, and Schoenbeck law.

While this trash clean-up is helpful, it is not the number one issue the river faces.

“E. coli gets in the river by agriculture runoff, sewage runoff, things like that, and we’re seeing high levels of E. coli,” Entenman said.

“You can make a difference. That mean’s you manage your pet waste, manage your lawn, let’s not have runoff and fertilizer leaving your lawn,” Rachel Kloos said, the waste water group leader at ISG.

Another way you can have an impact on the river includes contacting your elected officials with your concerns involving the Big Sioux River.

The clean-up event concluded at Remedy Brewing with the release of “Big Sioux Brew” a beer made using water from the Big Sioux River.