A family participates in Clean the Bay Day at Kiptopeke State Park. Photo by Kevin DuBois

Clean the Bay Day

The 25th Annual Clean the Bay Day (CTBD) will be held on Saturday June 1, 2013, between 9:00 a.m. and noon at hundreds of sites throughout Virginia. This 'silver anniversary' represents a big year for the CTBD Program—and for CBF and our partners working at making a big splash. We are taking on new partners in new locations, adding new features, and honoring the work of the many and varied groups that help CBF make it happen year after year.

Clean the Bay Day is a massive Virginia-wide stream cleanup running 25 years strong. This short three-hour annual event has a massive cumulative impact: Every year since 1989, thousands of volunteers of all ages have dedicated their time to clear debris from Virginia's urban, suburban, and rural shorelines and waterways. In 2012, approximately 6,800 volunteers from communities throughout the Commonwealth removed more than 150,000 pounds of debris from nearly 500 miles of streams and shoreline. The 2012 event involved more than 22 cities and counties, 11 military installations, 20 independent organizations, and 11 state parks. Since 1989, Clean the Bay Day has engaged over 122,000 volunteers, who have removed approximately 5.8 million pounds of debris from nearly 5,500 miles of shoreline in Virginia alone.

Why should I participate?

Cigarette butts, plastic bottles and bags, tires, paper, furniture, bikes, and construction materials, are just a sample of the types of debris that pollute our shorelines and waterways, kill marine and other wildlife, and degrade our communities and the water quality of the Bay. As rain falls onto our streets, roofs, parking lots, and lawns, the stormwater runoff collects debris and other pollutants, travels through storm drains and ditches and ultimately deposits pollution in our waterways and along our shorelines. Debris is a visible and pervasive reminder that the Chesapeake Bay needs restoration and improved stewardship. Removal and disposal of waterway and shoreline debris is a service to local communities, the Commonwealth, and the Bay. Through citizen volunteers, Clean the Bay Day provides localities with a cost-effective way to remove litter from the waterways and shorelines and increase environmental stewardship.

Clean the Bay Day also sets the stage for moving beyond the visible pollution and tackling the major unseen threats to our fragile environment. Clean the Bay Day solicits intense community engagement and embodies a broad-reaching rally for clean, healthy waterways, with thousands gathered around their local waters in the expectation of cleaner waterways. The long term success of the CTBD program is a testament to the strides our society has made in environmental awareness and sounds a call of optimism and support for the work to come.

Get involved! By foot or by boat, gather your groups, friends, neighbors, and co-workers and sign up for a fun day helping us Save the Bay™. There is something for everyone: litter pickup, volunteer coordination, compiling debris data, etc.

Questions? E-mail ctbd@cbf.org