the ross specializes in watershed ecosystem science, where they use large datasets to produce actionable insights that their partners can implement. one of the ross’s most important partnerships is with the biogeochemistry lab at rocky mountain research station (rmrs), which helps the ross collect and analyze stream chemistry for some of their key study watersheds.

another exciting aspect of the ross’s work is the harmonization of water quality data (from partners like rmrs) with satellite imagery to help estimate water quality from satellites, which helps fill in data gaps. critical to their open science mission, they keep all code open and accessible, providing publically available reproducible workflows for others to use their tools.

along with being a leading voice in watershed ecosystem management, the ross wants to make science welcoming to everyone, with the goal that their work “fosters a better, just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive scientific community.”

washington — instead of sleeping in on saturday morning, over a hundred volunteers turned to a day of action in honor of rev. martin luther king jr. day.

volunteers donned red gloves and headed into pope branch park to collect trash –– from plastic bottles to mattresses –– to honor the late civil rights leader. the event was planned for january 17, but was pushed back due to weather conditions. 

this year the total trash collected weighed 11,333 pounds. last year over 4,600 pounds of trash were removed from the area according to anacostia riverkeeper member trey sherard. 

“it’s a day on, not a day off,” dolly davis, president of the pope branch park restoration alliance, said about the intersection between environmental justice and mlk day. 

davis’ grandmother used to say a “community’s cleanliness is next to godliness;” she believes king represented the same message. davis works within her community to educate her neighbors, teaching how to properly recycle, build rain barrels and be more conscious of the environment.

king is remembered for his role in the civil rights movement, and inspires days of service across the country. 

“it really boils down to this: that all life is interrelated. we are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied into a single garment of destiny.” king said in a 1976 christmas sermon. “whatever affects one destiny, affects all indirectly.”

davis said she believes in king’s message and wants to bring people together to enjoy the earth and instill his dream in her community. 

davis was one of several community leaders and members of local nonprofit organizations who worked with the environmental group anacostia riverkeeper in an annual event to clean up trash along the pope branch stream, which flows into the anacostia river.

the anacostia river is one of the rivers in the u.s. that was considered “impaired by trash” by the environmental protection agency over a decade ago.

christine burns of anacostia riverkeeper said trash that winds up in the stream will eventually flow into the river. the area in and around the park is often used as an illegal dumping site, she said. during the cleanup, volunteers found 290 tires illegally dumped off the anacostia freeway. 

“environmental activism is extremely important, especially in our watershed, and so using the mlk day of action to get people out here and participate is truly important,” burns said. 

will teass brought his two sons, austen and cole. teass’s company, teass warren architects, participates in the mlk day of service every year.

“i bring these guys along to teach about what we need to do in our community,” teass said. 

the two boys, both in elementary school, excitedly looked for trash with their grabbers and ran back to their father when they found litter. 

davis said she believes the collective efforts of the volunteers are what king envisioned when he spoke about change, but she wants city agencies to step in more and promote recycling and keeping communities clean.

“we shouldn’t be cleaning. we shouldn’t be out here today,” davis said. “we should not have people who [litter] or illegally dump. what we want to happen is to see more and more people to be responsive and responsible on how they recycle and throw away trash responsibility.”

then came an unexpected turning point: in october 2020, the america’s conservation enhancement act passed congress with bipartisan support. this new act provides landmark, sorely needed funding for the epa’s chesapeake bay program and other conservation efforts. in this video, drew robinson, of the choose clean water coalition, and dr. solange filoso, of the university of maryland center for environmental science, discuss why this act is so remarkable and how it may change the future of the bay.

a love for swimming and experiencing water is a widely popular cultural phenomenon. unfortunately, most individuals are not lucky enough to have access to water sources suitable for public use. as our world continually industrializes, natural bodies of water are increasingly exposed to harmful pollutants. pollution is detrimental to the health of rivers, lakes, and oceans; it threatens natural ecosystems and poses a danger for human health. surface water, encompassing almost 70 percent of water on earth, is frequently contaminated with nutrient pollution. caused by animal manure, sewage treatment discharge, fertilizer, detergent, and stormwater runoff, nutrient pollution results in algae overgrowth. not only is this harmful to human health, but it also damages the ecosystems of various plants and animals that live in freshwater environments.

in particular, the potomac river has a history of struggling with pollution. the river’s water quality began to deteriorate at the start of the nineteenth century when mining and agricultural developments expanded upstream. throughout history, various leaders have made efforts to restore the river. in the 1960s, president lyndon johnson deemed the river a “national disgrace,” before signing the clean waters restoration act, which designated federal funds towards the development of sewage treatment plants. in 1972, the clean water act led to the expansion of several more sewage treatment plants. although progress has been made since its initial deterioration, the potomac river remains incredibly vulnerable to a variety of harmful pollutants.

fortunately, the potomac riverkeeper network has been fighting against pollution since its establishment in 2000. with a mission to protect the public’s right to clean water, prkn focuses on identifying pollution, fighting this pollution, and encouraging the community to engage with and appreciate the river. much of the organization’s works is focused on holding major polluters, like power plants, manufacturing facilities, and coal-ash storage facilities, legally accountable for the pollution they produce. the organization’s efforts will be supplemented by the donation of the sea dog boat and the launch of the swimmable potomac campaign.

in march, the potomac riverkeeper network held a boat launch to signify the start of new monitoring practices. to expand their patrolling and water quality monitoring capacity, prkn secured a donation of a 42-foot custom chesapeake deadrise powerboat called sea dog from a retired four-star u.s. navy admiral. sea dog’s primary functions will be to facilitate water quality monitoring on the potomac river, increase the visibility of potomac riverkeeper on the water, and engage the public in conversations about the health of the river, human impact, and future opportunities for public stewardship.

in tandem with this monumental donation, the prkn will launch a swimmable potomac campaign using the new information that will be available as a result of the bacterial water quality monitoring program.  the results from the bacterial monitoring program will be used to inform the public about when it is safe to go in the water – as well as when it is not – and push for more safe swimming days.  in addition, the campaign will seek to have dc’s historic ban on swimming in the potomac repealed while restoring swimmable use access.

if successful, the swimmable potomac campaign will lift the ban on swimming and other direct water exposure activities in dc and also provide sufficient, timely information to the public about water safety that people can make good decisions about whether to go in the water.

water is an essential element of human life. our entire existence is reliant on water, and our daily lives are enhanced by the privilege of interacting with natural water sources. thanks to the potomac riverkeeper network, there is hope that potomac river will make a full recovery from its polluted past, and be accessible to communities all across the watershed.

sources:

1. denchak, melissa. water pollution: everything you need to know. natural resources defense council. may 18, 2018. 

2. united states senate. the clean waters restoration act signed into law. us senate art and history archives. november 3, 1966. 

3. potomac riverkeeper network.

we interviewed him to learn more about the initiative and the impacts the work can have on the environment and policies surrounding it.

q: how was the concept of the headwaters initiative formed?

a: i think one of the impetuses was trying to think of ways the domain is a unique asset to the university. it’s really important for them to try to establish and grow their imprint in their environmental programs among liberal arts universities. from a research perspective, the domain offers a lot of really unique opportunities because we own it and it’s so unimpacted by upstream effects; and because it all goes downstream it offers stewardship opportunities as well.

q: so, how are you monitoring these water systems? are you looking at their health? what are the impacts you’re protecting them from?

a: what we’re doing right now is laying the groundwork for more nuanced research in the future. no one has really in the past done a thorough characterization of the streams’ baseline data. we have censors in streams to log light, temperature, and tell us when the streams dry out. we have leaf litter bags to see how the environment is breaking down leaf litter and cycling carbon. what we were doing yesterday was bottling samples to get a snapshot of the stream water chemistry. it’s necessary if anyone wants to do anything more nuanced, like studying the effects of global warming: you have to know your baseline.

q: the southeast is, within north america, this big hotspot for freshwater biodiversity. why is it critical that sewanee look at its biodiversity and freshwater ecosystems?

a: well, because that makes it culturally important. it’s the salamander capital of the world right there in southern appalachia. but it’s also because animals all play their own role in their ecosystem here. if we decrease diversity there’s a good chance you can wreak havoc on some of these ecosystem services that we rely on animals for.

q: such as?

a: things like nutrient cycling, soil health, forest regeneration, trophic levels. if anyone around here is interested in hunting, those animals have to have something to feed on. like i said, soil health and forest regeneration: some of the little critters that hang out on the floor play a big role in seed dispersal and leaf litter breakdown that becomes fertilizer for the plant that grows that allows the deer to eat. the health of all of these systems, none of them are independent. it’s easier to compartmentalize them to study them, but they’re all interconnected.

q: a minute ago you called the southern appalachians the “salamander capital of the world”—

a yeah, they like to put that on coffee mugs in the smokies.

q ha! well, can you explain what bsal is and why sewanee is concerned about it?

a: yeah. bsal is essentially a form of chitrid, and a lot of people who are at least somewhat acquainted with amphibians know of chitrid came through and killed a lot of frog species, particularly in south america.

q: so, is this a viral disease?

a: no, it’s a fungal pathogen. all amphibians can breathe through their skin, and though some also have lungs, they all assimilate moisture and other things through their skin. because their skin stays wet the fungus will colonize it and cause them a lot of physiological stress.

more recently, i think it was 2014, they actually documented bsal in western europe that had been brought over from asia. a lot of animals coevolved with pathogens in their environment, but if you pick up a pathogen and move it somewhere—like in this case from asia to europe—it can completely wipe out whole populations.

because we have so many species here and the international pet trade is so thriving in atlanta, there’s big time concern among most scientists that its’s really a “when” not “if” situation for bsal to get introduced to the southern appalachians. it can cause all kinds of problems for the ecosystem services i talked about before… most people are preparing already for that. it would be sad for people like me, who are just big salamander fans, but it would be terrible for the ecosystem.

q: because the introduction of bsal is a “when” not “if” situation, how do you expect shi to contribute to monitoring bsal and preparing for its arrival?

a: well, we do the stream surveys. if certain species are found to be more vulnerable than others, we will know where they are and will recognize the areas that we’ll have to focus in on.

in this podcast, frisbie speaks with colin boyle, a planet forward environmental correspondent out of chicago, about the past, present and future of the river.

“you think, how is that juxtaposition happening?” sridhar said. “there’s this flooding, and the city just keeps moving on, but you’re still asked within the household to manage your water — cause there’s going to be a drought later on. you never know when it’s going to stop.”

sridhar and the nature conservancy work to show people that water comes from far beyond the tap. they work with farmers to use nature to help manage, conserve, and produce clean water.

2. eliza swedenborg, research analyst for the water program at the world resources institute, learned about water conservation when she was a peace corps member in mali. swedenborg is part of the world resources institute’s aqueduct initiative, a resource that informs people of the supply and demand of water. the goal of the aqueduct initiative is to provide farmers, businesses, and students with data about water demand across the globe to mitigate risk.

3. walt and ellen moore own a dairy farm in chester county, pennsylvania, that has been in the family for 108 years. with 850 milking cows, walt moore says water is a daily concern, but is fortunate to average 40 inches of rainfall a year. moore partners with the stroud water research center to develop the most efficient water usage practices. upstream – small tributaries that flow into our cities; what practices nearby

“farmers are some of the oldest conservationists; we’ve had to adapt and learn,” moore said.

4. matt carstens of land o’lakes, inc., and head of their new sustain initiative, connects farmers with businesses to develop sustainable practices. carstens emphasized the importance of education and storytelling. land o’lakes provides tools for farmers to conserve water.

5. jason haber, gw alum and author of “the business of good,” says that the battle of this century will be about food and water. haber is a storyteller working to inform people about the global water crisis and more efficient and sustainable business practices.

“you can lead a horse to water, but they’re only going to drink if you tell a good story,” haber said.