BOARD AGENDA MEMORANDUM
SUBJECT:
Title
Adopt the Resolution Declaring all Saturdays in September as Coastal Cleanup Days in Santa Clara County.
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RECOMMENDATION:
Recommendation
Adopt the Resolution DECLARING ALL SATURDAYS IN SEPTEMBER AS COASTAL CLEANUP IN SANTA CLARA COUNTY.
Body
SUMMARY:
Trash in the creeks and other waterways have significant impacts on stream water quality and flooding risks in Santa Clara County. To address this, Valley Water and other organizations conduct ongoing efforts to help educate the community about these risks, and remove trash from the creeks. In 2019, countywide volunteer cleanup events removed a total of 53,297 pounds of trash from local creeks. Additionally, Valley Water's Adopt-A-Creek partners commit to cleaning their adopted creek section twice each year. In 2019, Adopt-A-Creek partners removed 20,505 pounds of trash from 37 miles of creek.
Each year, on the third Saturday of September, Valley Water hosts Coastal Cleanup Day, in partnership with cities, non-profit organizations, and the other community groups to raise awareness about the importance of keeping our creeks clean while removing trash from the county's waterways. This year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Valley Water has been working with the California Coastal Commission to develop alternative ways to host Coastal Cleanup events while maintaining safe social distancing protocols in alignment with public health orders. Therefore, to ensure public safety during this pandemic, Coastal Cleanup Day has transitioned into a series of days (and has been rebranded as "Coastal Cleanup"), and now will take place every Saturday during September to spread out the number of volunteers engaging in the cleanup activities. Additionally, volunteers will be encouraged to organize within their own households to stay local and clean up within their neighborhoods, since neighborhood trash eventually ends up in our creeks and storm drains.
The adoption of the resolu...
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