Chad Pregracke grew up with the Mississippi River and as a teenager began to notice the buildup of junk in the river when he worked as a commercial shell diver. This river, he mused, supplies drinking water to 18 million people in more than 50 cities. It shouldn’t be like this, he said.
Pregracke, 38, has just been named the 2013 CNN Hero of the Year for his struggle over the last two decades to clean up the river and other US waterways, according to CNN. He and about 70,000 volunteers have worked to help the activist to collect more than 7 million pounds of trash over the past 15 years – everything from plastic bottles to fridges.
Through his non-profit, Living Lands & Waters, Pregracke has encouraged people to try to take more care of the rivers, people’s lifeblood.
Read the full story at Rivers’ garbageman named CNN Hero of the Year.
