Sparta Rotary Club Begins Calfkiller River Project

The Sparta Rotary Club has begun a two-phase safety project on Calfkiller River.

Former Rotary President John Downs said the project aims at placing warning signs and mile markers along the full 38-miles.

“First off, in the last ten years or so there have been four drowning deaths, mostly kayakers that get out,” Downs said, “and we have several low head dams, and there are no warnings that they are there. People go over the dams and then they get caught in the turbulent water that follows the dam.”

The Club will place these markers with the help of a $5,000 International Rotary Grant.

Downs said the Rotary will also map EMS access to the river.

“They get into trouble and need to call for help, they usually not in a good position to explain where they are at,” Downs said. “So our hope is that they will see these signs and that will tell them exactly where they are, referencing the mouth of the river and they can tell you the last sign they saw was.”

Downs said phase-two of the project will entail clean-up efforts.

“We will have coordinated clean-up days where we will actually float the river. And then we will be able to tell people where they will be able to take the trash out,” Downs said. “What they should put in and what area they are responsible for and so on. Our phase two will be an adopt a mile program, essentially.”

Downs said the Rotary hopes to have phase-one finished by mid-August.