Belmont Waterways Cleaner Following Coastal Cleanup Day

The Boy Scouts from Belmont Pack 83 were some of the first to arrive at City Hall on Saturday morning to pitch in to cleanup the city’s waterways during California Coastal Cleanup Day.

One of the pack’s leaders, John Davis, explained that in addition to community service, the boys also earn achievement badges for their environmental volunteerism.

Joobin and Maryam Bahrami are the parents of two of the scouts in Pack 83. They, along with their dog Lola, were also participating in the cleanup. “I guess we’ll find a lot of paper and plastic---but hopefully we won’t find a body,” quipped Joobin.

Coastal Cleanup Day organizers from the City of Belmont, Diane Van Zandt and Diane Lynn, handed out rubber gloves and bags for trash and recyclables before sending volunteers off to their cleanup spots.

Belmont City Clerk, Terri Cook was also on hand to help the organizers and take photos of volunteers in action.

In Belmont, the cleanup spots were at the O’Neill Slough (near the Belmont Sports Complex), Belmont Creek (in Twin Pines Park), Belmont Creek (behind Lunardi’s), East Laurel Creek, and Waterdog Lake.

Lynn explained that the City must report everything found in “hot spots” to the State of California. “Hot spots are where a lot of garbage accumulates, and we must report everything to the state. Our hot spots are behind Lundardi’s, and the O’Neill Slough behind Jameco.”

According to Lynn, a total of 78 volunteers picked up 800 pounds of trash and recycling during the half-day event.

Other volunteers included a group of students from Notre Dame High School who were fulfilling a Christian service project requirement. Students Kristen Henry, Nicole Murillo and Lauren Berriatua were heading down to the Belmont Sports Complex to cleanup the waterways surrounding the field.

“Our service hours are based around a theme,” explained Henry. “And since the theme in our World Religion class is the environment, this is a good service project for us.”

At the conclusion of the morning event, a raffle was held for a Soilsaver compost bin.

Coastal Cleanup Day is a bi-annual event; the next one will be held in the spring.