When Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser and Keep Louisiana Beautiful unfurled Love Our Waterways this June, they weren't just announcing another cleanup day—they were asking an entire state to reckon with a problem that starts on land and ends in their most treasured natural systems. Registration opened at LoveLaWaterways.org for the September 2026 initiative, building on the momentum of a record-breaking effort called Love the Boot Week, and this time the scope is staggering: 14,400 miles of rivers, lakes, bayous, beaches, and shorelines across Louisiana.
The waterways at stake are not abstractions. They define Louisiana's identity and economy in concrete ways. The state's 14,400-mile waterway system supports the culture that makes Louisiana distinctive, powers a world-class seafood industry, sustains wildlife, and underpins outdoor recreation that draws people to the state. Yet these same waters carry a burden. According to Susan Russell, Executive Director of Keep Louisiana Beautiful, eighty percent of marine litter actually starts on land—blown or washed into waterways where it causes pollution and kills fish and wildlife. September, recognized globally as Ocean Conservancy's International Coastal Cleanup Month, provides the perfect moment to act, with World Cleanup Day falling on September 20.
The campaign invites everyone: volunteers, businesses, schools, civic organizations, and community groups. People can clean shorelines by hand, wade into drains and ditches, paddle out in kayaks or motorized boats, or donate money to amplify the work. Keep Louisiana Beautiful will provide supply boxes to the first 200 groups that register, removing a logistical barrier that stops many people from getting started. The website features downloadable marketing toolkits with press release templates, social media graphics, and promotional materials, making it easy for communities to spread the word.
What makes Love Our Waterways distinctive is the data collection component. Volunteers won't just pick up trash—they'll document what they find. Recording the types of debris removed and identifying larger abandoned items like derelict crab traps and abandoned vessels creates a real record. This information will flow to partner agencies, informing future removal efforts and painting a clearer picture of where the biggest problems lie.
The initiative arrives as part of a broader shift in how Louisiana approaches environmental stewardship. A news conference on June 15 at The Water Institute in Baton Rouge brought together Lieutenant Governor Nungesser, Russell, and Beaux Jones, President and CEO of The Water Institute, to announce additional details. The event included a live cleanup featuring volunteers from Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge Green, and Clean Pelican—showing that the announcement itself would be paired with immediate action.
For a state whose waterways are woven into its DNA, the message from leaders is clear: protecting these systems is everyone's responsibility. Louisianans have shown what's possible when they work together with pride and purpose, as the success of Love the Boot Week demonstrated. Now, across September 2026, they're being asked to prove it again—this time for the waters that have sustained them for generations.