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

Clean the Bay Day

Thank you for a GREAT turnout!

Volunteers all over the state, from Hampton Roads to Northern Virginia, from the Eastern Shore to the Shenandoah Valley, worked by land and boat to give the Bay a massive spring cleaning. Elected officials, their staffs, enlisted men and women, scout groups, churches, small businesses, large corporations and thousands of individuals and families turned out for this year’s Clean the Bay Day.

2013 Clean the Bay Day Preliminary Results:
Approximately 6,000 volunteers removed
more than 135,000 pounds of harmful debris
from more than 200 sites
along more than 500 miles of streams and shoreline…
all in just three hours.

Clean the Bay Day's 25th anniversary saw a great deal of programmatic growth. For the first time, every Virginia state park in the Chesapeake Bay watershed hosted cleanup events. We also saw unprecedented engagement from sponsors, who fielded more volunteers than ever before. On the whole, the program saw an approximate 30 percent increase in partners and associated geographic expansion. A new online reporting system was developed pro-bono by Code for America, allowing paperless and year-round reporting of clean-ups. This new tool has positioned Clean the Bay Day to operate more smoothly and with less waste in the digital age.

A smattering of anecdotal evidence:

The Common: Plastic bottles, plastic bags, food wrappers and cigarette butts.

The Large: Engine blocks, tires, 55-gallon drums, sunken boats, car seats and shopping carts.

And, of course, the Weird: An antique porcelain sink, a perfectly intact ceramic elephant, a raccoon puppet, a law enforcement ankle monitor, the door to a safe, a wig, and a Corona bottle with the message "I do not recommend this trail. It was long, scary and leads to nowhere." It was a good year for the weird.

Many reports suggest that sites this year were overall cleaner than anticipated, suggesting these sites are seeing sustained improvement. However, Clean the Bay Day sets the stage for moving beyond the visible pollution and tackling the major unseen threats that the Chesapeake Clean Water Blueprint is designed to manage.

You can continue to save the Bay throughout the year by becoming a better Bay steward at home.

1. Speak Out! Let your voice be heard regarding important legislation affecting our Chesapeake Bay and rivers. Write or call your senators and congressional representative, urging them to vote in an environmentally responsible way.
2. Natural Cleaners Only—use natural, non-toxic, phosphate-free cleaners like baking soda or borax with hot water for most household cleaning tasks. You’ll be reducing toxic chemicals in wastewater while saving money.
3. Reduce Fertilizer Use—always get a soil test first to be sure what your lawn requires; use fertilizer sparingly, and only when necessary. Excessive fertilizers contribute to nitrogen and phosphorous overload in rivers and the Bay, which can lead to low oxygen levels and dead zones.
4. Only Rain in Storm Drain—allow only rain to go down the storm drain and use a broom not a hose or power blower, to clean debris from decks, patios and driveways. You’ll save water, reduce emissions, and curb stormwater runoff.
5. Bay-Friendly Car Care—take your vehicle to a commercial car wash or wash your car on an unpaved surface with phosphate-free soap so water soaks into the ground, not into the storm drain.
6. Reduce Rain Runoff—direct rainwater away from paved surfaces; direct gutter downspouts onto lawn or flower beds, or into a rain barrel.

Thank you for your interest in Clean the Bay Day, and please register early for the 26th Clean the Bay Day, Saturday, June 7, 2014.

ANY QUESTIONS? E-mail ctbd@cbf.org.