Published: August 25, 2008 12:03 pm         

Grant gives supplies to beautify waterways

AUSTIN — The rivers and lakes of Texas provide recreation and beauty, but all too often they can be littered with trash and debris. Fortunately, the Texas Waterway Cleanup Program stands ready to assist communities in beautifying their local environments.

Offering free cleanup supplies, educational materials, and promotional support throughout the state, the Texas Waterway Cleanup Program enables all Texans to improve the quality of their lakes, rivers, creeks, and wetlands.

A partnership between Keep Texas Beautiful and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, the Texas Waterway Cleanup Program helps groups of any size host environmental education events and coordinate freshwater area cleanups and litter prevention activities. Participants may include schools, government agencies, youth and scout groups, neighborhoods, businesses, or any group of concerned Texans.

“The Texas Waterway Cleanup Program is a great opportunity for Texans to beautify their community at no cost to them,” Keep Texas Beautiful President Terri Caldwell said. “The program supports a wide range of activities and has so many positive effects on water quality, both in reducing pollution and improving the overall appearance of our waterways.”

Registrants in the program receive complimentary cleanup supplies such as trash bags, disposable gloves, litter pickup tools, hand sanitizer, sunscreen, first-aid kits, and youth giveaway items, as well as promotional support.

Last spring, volunteers supported more than 250 cleanup events across the state, with more than 15,000 participants collecting more than 897,000 pounds of debris from Texas waterways.

To get more information on the Texas Waterway Cleanup Program, to register an event, or to find a cleanup in your area visit the Keep Texas Beautiful Web site,www.ktb.org., or call 1-800-CLEAN-TX.

Keep Texas Beautiful, a statewide grassroots nonprofit, strives to educate and engage Texans to take responsibility for improving their community environment. KTB and its more than 350 affiliates work with government, businesses, civic groups, and volunteers to ensure that every Texan has the opportunity to take individual responsibility for making Texas the cleanest, most beautiful state in the nation.

On the Web:

http://www.ktb.org