Living in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, water is a constant topic of conversation. The health of our waterways is important to the health and happiness of communities, whether you live on the Eastern Shore or in the Appalachians. Clean water impacts everyone. People, plants, and animals all rely on having clean and reliable sources of water. Aquatic food webs—underwater plants, insect larvae, and fishes of all sizes—cannot function if the water is polluted. Water pollution can be caused by chemical or nutrient pollution. Fisheries, aquaculture, and recreation depend on the health of streams, rivers, and estuaries.

The month of August is National Water Quality Month. Designated by the EPA in 2005, this event highlights the importance of clean water for people and nature alike. Community organizations and volunteers work tirelessly to monitor their waterways. Their efforts identify threats to water quality as they arise. Scientists and managers are able to make well-informed decisions about stream and river health because of the detailed, long-term data provided by local water quality monitoring groups.

Water quality is a key piece of IAN’s work. We have a long-standing partnership with the Chesapeake Monitoring Cooperative (CMC). The CMC brings together over 100 local organizations from across the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, which includes Washington, D.C. and six states: Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New York. Together, these organizations monitor 2,500 stream locations. Most of this work is done by volunteers. This kind of fine-scale analysis of stream and river health is invaluable to making science-based decisions at all levels of government. Local data informs impactful local decisions. All of the CMC’s data is available for free online. You can view the location, timing, and variables sampled across the Chesapeake Bay Watershed.

Having a large and accessible dataset is good for science, too. Many of the CMC’s member organizations produce annual report cards of their data. That’s where IAN comes in! Our guidance on data interpretation and science communication enables local organizations to inform their communities about the valuable, highly localized science that’s being done. Community engagement and applied science are central to IAN’s mission. We love our friends and collaborators at the CMC, and we look forward to another decade of excellent work. The CMC is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year, so stay tuned for more information!