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Ten years ago, the Chesapeake Monitoring Cooperative (CMC) was created as a means to support and connect water quality monitoring initiatives across the Chesapeake region.
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In 1985, a small group of passionate community members gathered along the shores of Chesapeake Bay tributaries, monitoring kits and clipboards in hand, ready to collect powerful scientific data. With over 100,000 stream miles throughout Virginia, the Alliance recognized major gaps in where agencies were able to collect data.
The District of Columbia Citizen Science Water Quality Monitoring Report 2024 is out! The report covers key data and takeaways from citizen science monitoring from the 2024 season and gives insight into water quality near popular recreation sites across the District.
Water clarity is instrumental in determining the health of the Chesapeake Bay, and has an unquantifiable impact. For one, aquatic organisms rely on light for photosynthesis, especially at depths. When light is limited, food chains are affected from the bottom-up. In addition, some fauna rely on light to see prey and navigate.
Like water temperature and dissolved oxygen concentration, pH is an essential parameter in assessing habitat suitability for aquatic life. This is because pH determines the solubility and availability of nutrients and minerals for the survival of a species.
Water chemistry is sort of like a finely balanced seesaw. When it comes to dissolved oxygen, water temperature is its trusty friend on the other side. However, the effects of warming waters on dissolved oxygen in the Chesapeake Bay watershed are no game.
Welcome to Below the Surface of Monitoring, a four-part series in which we will dive deep into the nuances of the Alliance’s Water Quality Monitor program.
What good is data if it never gets used? The Chesapeake Monitoring Cooperative (CMC) is here to make sure that doesn’t happen! Each group within the CMC network is monitoring to achieve their own unique and individual goals for education, advocacy, outreach, and communication and have made enormous impacts on their communities.
We ask a lot of our water quality monitoring volunteers, and we want to extend a huge thank you to all of our volunteers who have stuck with us as we have navigated the past few years. We couldn’t do this important work to help restore the Chesapeake Bay and our waterways without you!
Our Water Quality Monitoring Initiative works to provide technical expertise, training, and resources in order to engage diverse partners to collect and share water quality data.
