Cascade Park cleanup to be filmed, studied

By Mary Grzebieniak

NEW CASTLE, Pa. — A cleanup of a historical Cascade Park here will be filmed in an effort to educate local students about the dangers household chemicals can pose to drinking water.

Jerry Zona, executive director of Pennsylvania Cleanways of Butler and Lawrence County, and also the county’s recycling and solid-waste coordinator, said a group of volunteers will be filmed doing a “litter sweep” of Cascade, removing litter as well as debris that has washed into the Big Run, a stream that flows through the park.

He said some tires and other debris are in the stream now.

From the park, Big Run flows to the Shenango River, which provides New Castle and other communities with drinking water and is a popular fishing spot.

The effort is a project of Pennsylvania Cleanways and is funded by the Water Resource Education Network, a state grant administered by the Pennsylvania League of Women Voters.

The group also will be videotaped retrieving household chemicals and other contaminating substances from illegal dumping areas throughout the county to demonstrate how household chemicals and paint cans end up there and ultimately can contaminate waterways.

Zona said once the containers rust through or break, the chemicals inside are released into the environment. He said that on a similar sweep, volunteers once found swimming-pool chemicals in a Taylor Township stream.

He said that if the containers had broken, the chemicals could have killed everything downstream.

Zona said he expects the videotape to be completed by the end of December. At that point, it will be made available to local schools whose students will watch it and then be invited to submit art about how proper disposal of trash affects drinking water.

The winning artwork will be reproduced on placemats, and 50,000 of them will be distributed to local restaurants. The winning students will be given U.S. Savings Bonds.

Cascade Park dates to 1897, and at one time boasted a theater, baseball park, roller coaster and merry-go-round and attracted 7,200 people per day. A dance pavilion is still standing.

In 1934, then-owner Pennsylvania Power Co. turned the park over to the city for public recreation. The park fell into disrepair, but restoration efforts began in the late 1970s and continue today.