The Clean Streams Program (formerly, Clean Streams Initiative) began as a program with the local environmental community to quantify litter pollution, clean up Fairfax streams, and generate creative and sustainable ways to reduce the amount of litter in Fairfax’s streams through outreach and education to the public. The Initiative has worked closely with:
- Little Hunting Creek: The Community Preservation and Development Corporation, young people from the community, and residents from Creekside Village work with us to monitor and clean up the trash coming from local apartments, which are classified as a High Density Residential area.
- Pohick Creek: The Mason Neck Lions and residents of Pohick Square Apartments monitor and clean up the trash from a set of apartments, which are classified as a Medium Density Residential area.
- Quander Brook: Friends of Quander Brook count litter and clean it up behind the Kings Crossing Shopping Center, our Commercial site.
- Little Rocky Run: Friends of Little Rocky Run collaborate with Clean Fairfax to monitor and clean up trash coming from single-family homes at this Low Density Residential site.
- Holmes Run: Friends of Luria Park help monitor the trash from both single-family homes and a nearby school. The Soil and Water Conservation District and local school children keep it clean!
The Clean Streams Program has since evolved to capture even more descriptive data on litter in Fairfax County streams through a formal partnership with the Department of Public Works and Environmental Services (DPWES) Stormwater Planning Division. Specifically, the program works to fulfill a piece of the County’s MS4 (Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System) five-year permit. This permit pertains to untreated water that is runoff into streams due to rainstorms, not from wastewater pipes or treatment plants (for more information about the MS4 permit in Fairfax County, visit Public Works site). Through this collaboration, the Clean Streams Initiative has generated robust database of litter collection, characterization, and change over time at five sites across the County for nearly a decade, supporting the educational, outreach, and advocacy work that Clean Fairfax does.
Read on about our collaboration with DPWES below.
July, 2017
Clean Streams monitoring update
The Clean Streams Initiative spring monitoring and cleanup of streams in Fairfax County yielded a total of 1,403 pieces of litter from five 100-foot long stream segments. That averages to 2.8 pieces of trash every foot!
These totals are just from the few sites we monitor for the Clean Streams Initiative. Volunteers have picked up thousands of pieces of litter countywide, including numerous tires, shopping carts, appliances, etc.
July, 2020
FY2020 monitoring update
During fiscal year 2020, the Clean Streams monitoring program collected 964 pieces of litter in the five monitoring sites.
July, 2022
FY2022 monitoring update
During fiscal year 2022, the Clean Streams monitoring program collected just 415 pieces of litter in the five monitoring sites. Food and Beverage items continue to be the most common items collected at stream site cleanups.
July, 2023
FY2023 monitoring update
In fiscal year 2023, the Clean Streams Initiative tallied and collected a total of 505 pieces of litter.
August, 2023
Clean Fairfax x DPWES Operation Stream Shield Pilot Project
Clean Fairfax and Fairfax County DPWES launched a joint pilot project to obtain more descriptive litter data at OSS clean up sites across Fairfax County.
March, 2024
Presentation at 7th Annual Clean Virginia Waterways Stormwater & Plastic Pollution Workshop
Clean Fairfax and Fairfax County DPWES presented on their OSS data collection pilot project at the annual conference in Chesapeake, VA. Watch the presentation here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lHFuYq9t08
