Thanks to over 60 volunteers and a dozen employees from the City of Arlington, the Lake Arlington cleanup and CITO event on August 17 was a huge success. Volunteers spent four hours collecting trash and debris from shorelines in and surrounding the lake and its island.

After filling more than 180 bags with trash (120 regular and 60 for recyclable materials), participants helped fill two dumpsters generously donated by the good folks at Republic Services. Southwest Arlington Geocachers (SWAG) and the Arlington Yacht Club did a great job coordinating volunteers on the day of the event.

Some of the more notable things found were a propane tank, approximately 100 yards of heavy duty wire, a dozen syringes, three plastic lawn chairs, road cones and several tires.

The City of Arlington has organized litter cleanup events on Lake Arlington for more than seven years as a way of raising awareness about littering. By teaming up with community groups, the City hopes to spread the message that anything that goes on the ground flows into a water body somewhere. Lake Arlington serves as a drinking water supply to over 600,000 people in the DFW Metroplex and serves as a hub for recreational activities.

A special thanks to Keep Texas Beautiful (KTB) for their generous support. KTB donated litter grabbers, trash bags and more in support of this water way cleanup. This project also made use of the Mobile Litter Unit, a trailer outfitted with cleanup supplies purchased using a supplemental environmental project grant through the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

For more information on future clean up and geocaching events and information on how to stage a litter cleanup in your neighborhood using free cleanup supplies, please visit http://keeparlingtonbeautiful.com/.