Drought has made river cleanup easier in Illinois - KFVS12 News & Weather Cape Girardeau, Carbondale, Poplar Bluff

There's an upside to the drought in Illinois: it's made it easier for volunteers to spot and clear debris from rivers thanks to lower water levels.

The Arlington Heights Daily Herald reported Saturday that this has led to cleanup bonanzas for groups aiming to keep waterways safer for canoeists and kayakers.

One recent cleanup netted 33 tires from a two-mile stretch of the Des Plaines River between the Independence Grove Forest Preserve and Oak Spring Road near Libertyville.

Gurnee resident and volunteer coordinator Paul Klonowski says "it's a tremendous opportunity for us to get stuff cleaned up that we normally don't ever see."

He organizes river cleanups as often as once a week and says the river level is the lowest he's seen in his more than a decade.

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