The Nansemond River Preservation Alliance has some fun and important jobs families can volunteer for this Saturday.

With all the rain in recent months, the Taylor floats used in the alliance’s Nansemond watershed environmental classroom program have layers of barnacles and sediment that need to be cleaned off.

“The oysters are in the growing stage in their floats, and a lot of material builds up,” alliance Executive Director Elizabeth Taraski said.

Volunteers who sign up will gather with alliance folks at a private residence to do the work between 8 and 11 a.m. Saturday. Floats from different locations will be brought to the site.

Taraski said it’s a great way to learn about Suffolk’s waterways and how they are benefited by oysters, which, when mature, can each filter 50 gallons of water in a day.

“That’s why oysters are so important,” she said.

The floats will be cleaned with a power washer and brushes. As part of some research the alliance is planning, volunteers will also study the morbidity rate, Taraski said.

Plus, the oysters will be sorted for size. Those on the top inside the floats grow at a much faster rate, Taraski said, and they need to be grouped by size when they are placed back in the floats and returned to the water.

“There are some that are really, really large,” Taraski said.

Operating in the city’s public schools and Nansemond-Suffolk Academy, the initiative, which includes classroom and fieldwork, educates about 1,000 students each year, she said. It will start up again mid-September.

“It’s part of a process,” Taraski said of the float cleaning and oyster sorting, adding that how often the work has to be done depends on several factors.

“We have to do it now — we can’t wait ‘til September. We want a healthy environment for the oysters to grow and flourish in,” she said.

Taraski asked anyone who signs up to help to come wearing old clothes, because they will get a bit dirty. The tasks are appropriate for children 10 and older, she said.

To sign up or for more information, contact Elizabeth Taraski at etaraski@gmail.com or 708-6114.