BOARD AGENDA MEMORANDUM
SUBJECT:
Title
Adopt the Resolution Declaring all Saturdays in September as Coastal Cleanup Days in Santa Clara County.
End
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 resolution will declare September 5th,12th,19th, and 26th, 2020 as Coastal Cleanup in Santa Clara County and further encourage Santa Clara County communities and Valley Water employees to keep our local waterways clean.
Since 1995, Valley Water has been working with the Creek Connections Action Group (CCAG), a consortium of public agencies and non-profit organizations that share a goal of protecting Santa Clara County’s waterways. CCAG coordinates the annual Coastal Cleanup Day in Santa Clara County to keep creeks and rivers clean to help improve the environment. The removal of trash improves water quality and benefits the natural habitat in and around these waterways.
Our partnership role as Chair of CCAG includes providing countywide coordination, various marketing efforts and providing cleanup supplies for volunteers.
Public Outreach
For this year’s Coastal Cleanup outreach, staff has engaged in the following public outreach and volunteer engagement efforts:
• Posting social media posts throughout the months of August and September (Facebook, Twitter, etc).
• Sent “Save the Date” emails to over 3,000 past participants.
• Distributed postcards, fliers and posters at local outdoor areas.
• Posted detailed cleanup information on the Creek Connections Action Group’s home page (www.cleanacreek.org <http://www.cleanacreek.org>).
• Featuring event flyer on Valley Water’s internal and external website.
• Announced event via Valley Water’s monthly e-news reaching 30,000 subscribers.
• Sending Nextdoor post from all seven Board of Directors inviting community participation
• Implementing “CleanSwell” app for easy data reporting for volunteers
• Created Eventbrite registration for volunteers
• Providing Valley Water creek cleanup social distancing, safety and hazardous waste guidelines for all volunteers
• Providing cleanup supplies from the Valley Water Warehouse following strict social distancing protocols.
Educational Messaging
This year’s Coastal Cleanup will be the first year without designated creek sites and a push for large groups of volunteers. Therefore, staff has been promoting educational messaging around the importance of keeping local neighborhoods and streets clean and free of debris. Encouraging volunteers to remove trash from right outside their front doors will help to keep that trash from eventually making its way to our creeks and other waterways. Moving forward with this alternative for Coastal Cleanup will leverage Valley Water funds for stewardship opportunities and bring together a sense of community, which many people are missing during these difficult times of uncertainty and isolation.
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
Staff estimates a $15,000 expenditure associated with approval of this item. This year, volunteers will dispose of any trash collected in their own homes. Funding for this item is included in the FY 2020-21 budget for the “Support Volunteer Cleanup” project.
CEQA:
The recommended action does not constitute a project under CEQA because it does not have a potential for resulting in direct or reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment.
ATTACHMENTS:
Attachment 1: Resolution
UNCLASSIFIED MANAGER:
Manager
Marta Lugo, 408-630-2237