All the Rain Flushed Trash into the Rivers

This past year, the Chesapeake Bay TMDL cleanup plan, now know as the “Chesapeake Clean Water Blueprint” was recognized as a model of environmental improvement. This is also the year that record breaking storms delivered more than 160% of the average rainfall. High river flows were prolonged and the rain washed huge volumes of debris and litter off the land into our rivers and streams, in addition to the nutrients and sediment carried with the soil washed from our farms and gardens.

Last spring because of this flush of nutrients, the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science were forecasting that the Chesapeake Bay would have a larger-than-average “dead zone” in 2018, due to increased rainfall in the watershed this spring. At that time the scientists thought that last summer’s dead zone, an area of low to no oxygen that can kill fish and other aquatic life, would very large.

However, when the Maryland Department of Natural Resources actually performed their July measurements they found the opposite. Due to the winds and rain, dissolved oxygen conditions in Maryland’s portion of the Chesapeake Bay mainstem were the best ever observed in late July, reported the Maryland Department to Natural Resources. The Bay's dead zones did not grow as originally predicted, last year and the grasses on the bottom a measure of the Chesapeake Bay health survived. The scientists are monitoring the bay for possible longer-term harm, but so far the improved bay health has been resilient.

The rain that soaked the entire Chesapeake Bay watershed however, flushed huge volumes of debris off the landscape, in addition to the nutrients and sediment. Almost 6 times the normal amount of trash and debris was collected at the Conowingo dam, ranging from beverage containers to floating docks. The stormwater management system in Washington DC captured more than 700 tons of trash and debris flowing off streets last year and our own Prince William Soil and Water Conservation District Adopt a Stream program collected 39,364 pounds of trash in our river cleanups.

Nonetheless the summer, fall and winter rains have carried tons of trash into our rivers. There is a lot of work to do to clear our streams. We kick off the year with the Quantico Creek Cleanup in Dumfries on February 23, 2019. This is a great one day volunteer opportunity come out and help us. In 2018, over 1451 volunteers supported the District's Water Quality programs compared to 1057 volunteers in 2017. There is need for more of you to help us.

from PWSWCD

Saturday Feb. 23

9 a.m-12 noon

Quantico Creek Cleanup in the Town of Dumfries

Saturday Mar. 2

9 a.m-12 noon

2019 PWC Big Stream Cleanup Launching at

Neabsco Eagles Park, Woodbridge.

Sat. March 16

9 am -12 noon

Costco Manassas 4th Phase Cleanup Project.

Sat. March 23

9 am -12 noon

Powell's Creek Cleanup at Montclair

Sat. April 13

Lower Occoquan Cleanup

Sat. April 27,

+25 miles Big Upper Occoquan Annual Cleanup