JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO, Texas –
This year, the San Antonio Basura Bash is celebrating 25 years of cleaning up the waterways around San Antonio. The Basura Bash is an annual one-day, all-volunteer event to clean the San Antonio Watershed.
At Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston, this will be the ninth year of the cleanup effort, which takes place from 8 a.m. to noon Feb. 16 at the Salado Creek Park.
Whenever storm water flows instead of soaking into the ground (storm water runoff), it goes to our creeks and rivers, picking up contaminants along the way. Impervious surfaces like driveways, sidewalks and streets prevent storm water runoff from naturally soaking into the ground.
Storm water can pick up debris, chemicals, dirt, waste from our pets and other pollutants before it flows into a storm sewer system or directly to a lake, stream, river, wetland or coastal waterway. Even soil and grass clippings can have an adverse effect on the aquatic life in our waterways.
Anything that enters a storm sewer system is discharged, untreated, into the bodies of water we use for swimming, fishing and providing drinking water.
This is how the majority of pollutants end up in our waterways affecting plants, fish, animals and people. These are the waterways where we swim and fish, and where we get some of our drinking water.
Last year, more than 2,100 volunteers pitched in to clean 21 tributaries across San Antonio, collecting more than 25 tons of trash and recycling 3,400 pounds of metal. At JBSA-Fort Sam Houston, more than 400 of those volunteers, including the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts of America. The military was well represented with hundreds of Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen working throughout the morning to clear out a year's worth of accumulated debris at Salado Creek Park.
The JBSA-Fort Sam Houston Basura Bash is hosted by the 802nd Civil Engineer Squadron, and supported by the MWR Outdoor Rec Staff, the Operation’s Heavy Repair Shop, and many other individuals representing their units across JBSA.
Registration for the event is online at https://basurabash.org/. It is recommended that volunteers wear long pants, sturdy shoes or boots, and bring bug repellent. Some parts of the creek will be well maintained, while others will have light to dense brush. Kayaks will be available, thanks to outdoor recreation, for cleaning up the harder-to-reach spots of the creek.
Gloves, trash bags, and water will be provided for all volunteers. A light breakfast will also be provided by the City of San Antonio.
Thanks go out to all volunteers who have helped make this event a success for the past eight years, and we hope to see you again this year. While the Basura Bash is a one-day event, you can help keep our waterways clean every day, by making sure trash makes it to the proper receptacles, that items in the bed of your trucks are secured, that chemicals are cleaned from your driveways, and pet waste picked up and disposed of.
For more information on the event, go to http://www.basurabash.org/ or call 210-671-0396. For more information on how to keep our storm drains clean for downstream, call 210-652-3314.