Keep the Midlands Beautiful calls on volunteers to help clean Lake Murray and 77 local waterways this fall.
Registration is now open for Lake Sweep/River Sweep, the annual cleanup of Lake Murray and waterways across Lexington and Richland counties, coordinated by Keep the Midlands Beautiful (KMB).
This year’s cleanup runs from Aug. 30 to Sept. 28, giving volunteers the option to pick a day to clear litter from one of 77 waterways in the two counties. A special group cleanup will also take place on Saturday, Sept. 20, at three designated Lake Murray check-in sites.
Volunteers will receive free litter pickup supplies, t-shirts, boat rides, and even prizes as part of their participation. Organizers say the event is a great opportunity for individuals, families, school groups, civic clubs, scout troops, and businesses to get outdoors and make a visible impact.
In the past two years, an average of 380 volunteers removed nearly 8,700 pounds of trash each year during the event. Lake Sweep/River Sweep is also supported by more than 30 partners, including PalmettoPride, Dominion Energy, Lexington County Solid Waste Management, and Keep Newberry County Beautiful.
The event is KMB’s local contribution to South Carolina’s annual Beach Sweep/River Sweep, organized statewide by the S.C. Sea Grant Consortium and the S.C. Department of Natural Resources, in partnership with The Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup. Over its 35-year history, the statewide sweep has involved thousands of volunteers collecting more than 1,300 tons of litter from South Carolina’s waterways.
In addition to this annual event, KMB runs an Adopt-a-Waterway program, sponsored in part by Dominion Energy, which allows volunteer groups to adopt a site and commit to cleaning it at least twice a year.
Registration is required by Sept. 6 and can be completed online at bit.ly/KMBLSRS. To sponsor or learn more about Lake Sweep/River Sweep, contact Lexy Johnson at 803-733-1139 or [email protected], or visit kmbsc.org.
