2026 Lake Sweep River Sweep

Lexington, SC 09/30/2026 - On Sept. 19, 2026, Keep the Midlands Beautiful (KMB) coordinated Lake Sweep/River Sweep, an annual cleanup of Lake Murray and surrounding waterways, with help from over 30 event partners including Dominion Energy, Lexington County Solid Waste Management, and Palmetto Pride. This event is KMB’s contribution to South Carolina’s annual Beach Sweep/River Sweep, hosted by S.C. Department of Natural Resources and S.C. Sea Grant Consortium.

There were 350 volunteers involved in this year's cleanup across the waterways of Richland and Lexington counties, including a dive team, kayakers and volunteers on boats and on land. Their combined efforts led to the removal of 6,139 pounds of litter, recyclables and bulk items removed from our waterways. This weight was calculated using more accurate weight standards than in previous years and does not include some bulk items that are still pending removal. Volunteers who participated in both 2025 and 2026 reported a large decrease in the amount of litter to be removed.

KMB relies on small volunteer groups to keep a variety of rivers, boat ramps, islands and other waterways in Lexington and Richland counties clean year-round. KMB’s Adopt-a-Waterway program, sponsored in part by Dominion Energy, provides volunteer groups with recognition for removing litter from their adopted waterway at least two times a year for two years. For a list of available locations and details about how to adopt a waterway, visit https://kmbsc.org/about-adopt-a-waterway.

To learn more or to sponsor next year’s Lake Sweep/River Sweep or other KMB programs, contact Traude Sander at 803-733-1139 or tsander@kmbsc.org or visit https://kmbsc.org.

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Keep the Midlands Beautiful, a nonprofit organization established in 1989, is an affiliate of Keep America Beautiful and Palmetto Pride serving both Lexington and Richland counties. Our mission is to educate, inspire, and empower citizens to improve the places where they live, work, and play through litter prevention, recycling, and beautification. We manage eight litter prevention programs and three recycling programs, provide environmental education, and coordinate at least one beautification project each year. We are a small organization making a big difference in the community with the help of over 6,000 hardworking and dedicated volunteers each year.