Summer 2019 News

Clear Choices Clean Water

Waterkeepers Chesapeake launched its new Clear Choices Clean Water Chesapeake Bay campaign to increase awareness about choices residents make and their impact on our rivers and streams – and ultimately the Chesapeake and Coastal Bays. The campaign inspires people to pledge to implement water friendly practices to reduce polluted stormwater runoff, such as reducing the use of lawn fertilizer, planting and stewarding trees, managing pet waste, and volunteering time to help with local clean water initiatives. The campaign’s core message is that what each of us does matters, and we can all make a difference. Take a pledge and see your location on an interactive map – providing further confirmation that you are doing your part along side many others. Make a pledge today at http://mychesapeake.clearchoicescleanwater.org.

---

 

Defending Your Right to Clean Water

Waterkeepers Chesapeake works on many levels to protect and defend your right to clean water. On the federal level, we are working to stop the roll back of Clean Water Act protections and the weakening of states’ authority to issue water quality permits for federal projects. We also joined a lawsuit against the EPA for it’s failure to revise regulatory standards on certain contaminants and develop new standards for emerging contaminants as required by the Safe Drinking Water Act. On the regional level, we continue to fight Exelon’s, owner of the Conowingo Dam, attempts to shirk its responsibility of doing its fair share of cleaning up the sediment built up behind the dam, including trying get a new 50-year license without getting a permit from the State of Maryland. Also on the regional level, we commented on the latest Watershed Implementation Plans that were recently issued as part of meeting the 2025 goals for the Chesapeake Bay cleanup plan (TMDL). We encouraged Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia to include more concrete plans and strategies for funding and program implementation. Each state must also account for growth and climate change.

---

It Really Rained in 2018!

Our local Waterkeepers monitor water quality by conducting robust water sampling and then analyze and report their results in annual report cards, interactive maps and mobile apps. The overwhelming theme of 2018 was rain. Our region averaged more than 70 inches of rain, which is about double the rain of a typical year. What is the impact of all that rain on our rivers? The short answer – it isn’t good. But the good news is that without the restoration and pollution reduction efforts of our Waterkeepers, many other groups, and government agencies, it could have been much worse. Read our blog on their report cards and other reports issued recently. Go to the Swim Guide app for up to date data on your local waterways.

---

A Big Year for Clean Water Legislation!

We had some important legislative wins for clean water in Maryland. But first let’s give a big shout out to the amazing win in Virginia on passing a bipartisan bill to safely dispose of 28 million tons of toxic coal ash Dominion Energy now has stored on the banks of the Potomac, James and Elizabeth Rivers. This bill sets a national precedent for how to safely remove a legacy of toxic coal ash stored along our waterways in our region and across the nation. In Maryland, we passed one of the most important agriculture bills in the past decade. It will improve transparency and fairness in the State’s industrial agriculture permitting program, create penalties for violations of phosphorous pollution regulations, and improve the state’s overall agricultural enforcement efforts. Other successful bills included reducing sediment runoff from construction sites, banning foam, preventing the routine, low-dose use of antibiotics in farm animals, and creating five statutory oyster sanctuaries. Read More

Read about our Fair Farms legislative wins, too!

---

In Defense of Water 2019 – Sept. 5

We invite you to join us on Thursday, September 5th 6:30 – 9:00pm at the Audubon Woodend Sanctuary to celebrate the hard work of our Waterkeepers, toast to our clean water successes, and raise much needed funds to keep up the fight for clean water for all! Sponsors and guests will enjoy fresh, local food from La Prima Catering, mingle with Waterkeepers, and bid on exciting silent auction items.

This year, we are excited to have as our honorable guest, Jennifer Chavez, Senior Attorney for Earthjustice. Her work in representing Waterkeepers Chesapeake, as well as many of our member Riverkeepers and Coastkeepers in the region has been instrumental in protecting our waterways from pollution. We will also be honoring one of our Waterkeepers for an outstanding achievement over the past year. Become a sponsor or buy a ticket today!

---

New and Old Faces

We welcome Gozi Egbuonu as our new Development Manager. Gozi has years of experience in fundraising, event planning, donor relations and partnership building. We’re excited to have her energy and creativity to help build our organization! We are also very happy that Shelby Kalm is our new Fair Farms Campaign Coordinator after serving as our Outreach Coordinator for the past 3 years.

Thank you! See you out on the water!

 

 

 

 

 

Betsy Nicholas
Executive Director

WATERKEEPERS® Chesapeake

P.S. Get out on the water with our Waterkeepers! Visit our events calendar to find on-the-water fun, rallies and actions, educational workshops, films, fundraisers and more near you!

---

We have made it easier to find and report pollution — and to report the fun things you see and do on the river. Working with Chesapeake Commons, we developed the free Water Reporter App so you can send reports directly to your local Waterkeeper! Download it today!

Take Swim Guide with you – wherever you go! The free Swim Guide app makes it easy to know the water quality at your beach. Several of our Waterkeepers post water quality monitoring results every week — check it out before you head to your favorite river, bay and beach!

Shop WeeGreen and find a range of the very best green and sustainable products and local services. Every purchase benefits Waterkeepers Chesapeake!

---