The Problem: According to the EPA, “40% of lakes and rivers do not meet water quality standards.” The amount of trash seems to keep building up, land fills keep stacking up and local sources for water, including lakes and rivers, keep being polluted. There is a problem and there needs to be a solution.
For the local watersport scene this is crucial, not only for business and local tourism, but more importantly, to sustain lake life and its activities that we love. Statistically, thousands of locals and tourists venture out to Texas lakes year after year, but imagine if these lakes become contaminated and polluted to a certain extent such that the news, media and word of mouth have created a conception that these lakes are “dirty.” Would you want to be on a lake or river that is unkept and trashy? Would you want to go to one that you heard was dirty?
The Solution: Education/ Awareness + Cleanup.
In south Texas, Austin area, Linda McCoy-Schriever has been the solution and for her efforts she is the recent recipient of the Keep Texas Beautiful Volunteer of the Year Award. According to the Keep Texas Beautiful website, “For the past 6 years, Linda has dedicated herself to making an impact in the Austin community. As a Clean Lady Bird Lake, Adopt-a-Creek, and Clean Sweep site leader, she has trained hundreds of volunteers throughout her years of service. In 2014 alone, she spent 386 hours volunteering with Keep Austin Beautiful programs.” Congrats to our friend Linda for her efforts and to all of our paddle + trash clean up events she has organized over the years.
We invite you to come join our efforts around Texas to Keep Texas Beautiful and to ultimately Keep America Beautiful.
It starts with each individual like Linda and organized trash clean ups such as the ones at DFW Surf we have been organizing since 2007 like our “Pick up Trash and then Surf for Free Days.” With all of our efforts on the lakes throughout Texas we can make a difference. The following pictures are just from a couple hours of clean up. Imagine if we can give a couple days a year of our time. Please come support our next clean up opportunity on Lake Grapevine, click HERE for more info, this Saturday the 18th. Pick up a bag of trash and treat yourself to an hour of paddleboarding thanks to the DFW Surf Club.