HARMONY — This year’s fifth annual Connoquenessing Creek Cleanup may be the last for the creek in Butler County.

That is the assessment of Allegheny Aquatic Alliance’s co-founder Christina Handley.

The Connoquenessing Creek Cleanup is an annual event to remove the trash accumulated in the creek over the years, Handley said. Handley founded the nonprofit in 2012 with her husband, Mike.

This year’s event started on Saturday, and will include a second Saturday on Sept. 10.

In previous years, the cleanup has focused on different sections of the 50-mile creek, with this year’s volunteers focusing on a 12-mile section between Harmony and Ellwood City, Handley said. The creek stretches from the Oneida Valley Reservoir to just west of Ellwood City, where it joins the Beaver River.

Handley has previously said that she hopes to have the entire creek cleaned by 2017, at which point annual maintenance cleanups may start.

On Saturday, roughly 95 volunteers showed up to help collect garbage from the creek, which would then be sorted and recycled based on the types of trash. Volunteers included individuals who need community service hours through the Butler County Probation’s Department of Community Corrections.

Pieces of scrap metal found in the creek are recycled with Vogel Disposal Service in Mars, Handley said, and tires, a common find in the creek, are sent to Bridgestone for recycling.

Handley said items that require payment to dispose of are commonly found in the creek.

“Anything that costs money for people to throw away is getting dumped,” she said.

Just like tires, electronics — such as televisions and computers — are starting to show up in the water.

And it’s the electronics that worry her, especially considering the types of chemicals that might be used in manufacturing.

“Anything in (the creek) is going to decompose, and it’s going to release synthetic chemicals,” she said.

Handley’s mother, Jeannie Scott, said she pulled a television out of the creek last year that made her particularly concerned about what it could do to the environment there.

In addition to the creek, volunteers worked to clean up Creek Road in Renfrew, where much of the garbage dumped can end up moving into the creek. There, construction dumping is common, and it only seems to be getting worse.

“Companies (and people) that don’t want to pay to dispose just dump,” she said. “That road is the dirtiest I’ve seen it in four years.”

But malevolent, intentional dumping isn’t the only way items can end up in the creek, she said. Huge storms and floodwaters can drag trash from different areas into the creek.

Handley estimates that the majority of the trash, 70 percent, comes from acts of nature like flooding.

In the past four years, volunteers have removed more than 200,000 pounds of garbage and about 2,000 tires.

This year, Handley hopes to remove another 60,000 pounds of trash and 600 tires, but water conditions on Saturday complicated things, she said.

Thursday brought heavy storms to the area, and while they didn’t last too long, it was just enough to cause heavy swelling of the creek upstream, pushing silt and dirt along the creek.

This clouded the water and made visibility a huge issue on Saturday. When volunteers can’t see the trash, it’s a lot harder to remove.

“On Thursday, I could see every tire in this section (of the creek),” Handley said Saturday, when only a few feet of water near the shore lines were visible.

Handley’s father, John Scott, said the heavy rain does make it easier for the canoe-bound volunteers to travel the waterway.

“Heavy rain makes it easier to float, but harder to see (the trash),” he said.

The cloudy water may push the cleanup into another year, she said, to ensure that the majority of the trash is removed.

For now, though, it’s uncertain what the alliance will do after the initial cleanups are complete. Handley knows there will be some maintenance required to keep the creek clean, but she’s also wondering if the group should look at cleaning another creek in the area.

However, there was no question that Connoquenessing Creek needed to be cleaned, she said.

In 2000, the creek was rated the second most polluted waterway in the United States, second only to the Mississippi River.

John Scott said the group has seen some interesting things come out of the water, but tires, metal and bottles are the most common.

John Patrus, a second-year volunteer, recounted some of the more unique items, including a shag rug, a piano and a vault from a casket warehouse.

The volunteers typically work from 8 a.m. until 5 or 6 p.m., but they sometimes run later if the weather is nice, Patrus said.

Handley encouraged people who want to volunteer on Sept. 10 to contact the alliance. Not every volunteer needs to be able to dig out trash, and trucks can always be used to move the trash from one location to another.

Those interested in volunteering can contact Handley at 724-371-0416, the Allegheny Aquatic Alliance’s Facebook page or at alleghenyaquaticalliance@hotmail.com.