Become a member of PCS.  You’ll receive monthly e-newsletters, special invitations to events, and current information about our programs and opportunities to get involved.  Volunteer for any PCS program.  Sign up for our water quality programs throughout the year to make a positive impact on our water resources.  Give to PCS. Your donation, no matter how small, helps us to actualize our mission of increasing stewardship of our rivers, streams, and lake. We rely on volunteers and donors to make our programs successful and sustain our presence in the community. Please consider becoming or remaining a Partner for Clean Streams in 2019!

We are also proud to announce that this has been a record-breaking year for marine debris removal.  Clean Your Streams Day 22 has set the bar for total tires collected and pounds of trash removed.  In total, 35,573 pounds of marine debris were removed from the waterways of the greater Toledo area.  306 tires were also removed and recycled through our partnership with Bridgestone Tires4Ward program.  As exciting as these statistics are, it solidifies the fact that there is more work to be done!  We hope that you will continue to support PCS in 2019 as we work to support our water resources.  Thank you to all those who made a real difference for our waterways this past year!

Upcoming Events:

Walleye Game
Friday, Dec. 14th from 5:00-11:00pm

Disney on Ice (3 shifts)
Saturday, Dec. 22nd from 9:00am – 3:00pm
Saturday, Dec. 22nd from 9:00am – 9:00pm
Saturday, Dec. 22nd from 3:00pm – 9:00pm

Walleye Game
Thursday, Dec. 27th from 5:00pm – 11:00pm

Walleye Game
Saturday, Jan. 5th from 5:00pm – 11:00pm

The star of the show was our 2018 Clean Stream Partner Award.  It was our honor to present Bill Davis, Volunteer Manager and ZooTeen Coordinator at the Toledo Zoo, with the award.  Bill Davis has been involved with Clean Your Streams Day since 2002!  He has supported our other annual programs, such as Get the Lead Out, CYS 365, Glass City Marathon, and Youth Patch Day, along with helping us clean collected fishing line to prep for recycling. Thank you, Bill, for all you have done to promote environmental conservation in our community and promoting stewardship of our water resources in younger generations!

The highlight of the Annual General Meeting was the awards ceremony.  Clean Your Streams Day Challenge Award Winners were recognized for their efforts.  Representatives from the Toledo Zoo Teens, Toledo Early College High School, Ohio EPA, The Mannik & Smith Group, and First Solar all accepted awards on their organization’s behalf.  Additionally, a 2019 Board of Directors election was held.  Current PCS Treasurer Joan King and Board Member Denise Fonner were unanimously re-elected for another two-year term.  Bill Buri was a new nominee to the PCS Board and he graciously accepted the position.  Thank you to our 2018 Board Members who help guide our organization to increase our volunteer base and help reach fundraising goals.  

• Buy recycled paper products
  • Recycled products take less water and energy to produce and manufacture and are just as pretty!
• Look for leaks in your bathroom
  • With more guests and entertaining, it is important to identify and rectify any water leakage quickly.
  • A leaky toilet can waste as much as 200 gallons an hour!
• Cook your food in less water, preserving both water and nutritional value.
• Don’t let the water run while washing your hands or brushing your teeth.
• Use less meat during your meals.
  • It takes 1,800 gallons of water to produce just one pound of beef!
• Thaw your food in the refrigerator, not in water.
• Water your houseplants with leftover melted ice from your holiday festivities.
• Rinse vegetables in a pan of clean water rather than continually running the faucet.

Water conservation starts at home.  We each can be responsible stewards and consumers of our natural resources. Small actions like these during the holidays can have large impacts throughout the year.  You don’t have to sacrifice during the season to continue supporting our water systems.

The numbers don’t lie – sometimes the biggest impact is the seeing the total pounds of trash in black and white that CYS volunteers are able to pick up in a three-hour span. The total number helps us show the prevalence of marine debris in our local waterways and gauge whether litter is overall improving, remaining the same, or getting better.  However, we can also break down the data to understand what is going on at specific sites such as illegal dumping, dead wildlife, single-use plastic items, etc.  Data cards serve as an educational tool to effect real change.  Clean Your Streams Day is a critical program in the reduction of marine debris, but also the prevention of it through education.  

Clean Your Streams doesn’t have to only last a day!  The Ocean Conservancy has developed a free app – Clean Swell, that works as an electronic data card.  Next time you’re out at a site and it is less than pristine, you can pull up the app, pick up the trash, and automatically log it into the International Coastal Conservancy database (the same one we use for CYS!).  You can see what other groups are finding, who else is doing a cleanup nearby or in another country.  Technology helps connect us as we all struggle to support healthy rivers, lakes, and oceans.  Consider downloading Clean Swell and track your trash or treasure!