This report card provides a transparent, timely, and geographically detailed assessment of Chesapeake Bay and its Watershed. While bay health focuses on ecological indicators, watershed health includes ecological, economic, and societal indicators. This is the first year that watershed water quality trends have been calculated. Overall, Chesapeake Bay scored 56%, a C+. This was the highest score ever for the Bay, and long-term trends continue to significantly improve.

Este informe ofrece una evaluación transparente, oportuna y geográficamente detallada de la Bahía de Chesapeake y su cuenca hidrográfica. Mientras que la salud de la bahía se centra en indicadores ecológicos, la salud de la cuenca incluye indicadores ecológicos, económicos y sociales. Este es el primer año en que se han calculado las tendencias de la calidad del agua en la cuenca. En conjunto, la Bahía de Chesapeake obtuvo una puntuación del 56 % (una calificación de C+).

Atlantic Canada, like other areas, is facing accelerating sea-level rise, stronger storms, decreasing sea ice, and accelerating, more extensive coastal erosion and flooding. Coastal adaptation reduces the risk from these processes—made more intense by climate change—but often requires difficult decisions, changes in human behavior, and agreement over shared principles to guide action.

Extreme rainfall is intensifying globally as the climate continues to warm. Yet how such events affect coastal water quality and potentially influence assessments of water quality improvement remains poorly understood.

Changing climatic conditions that can alter physical characteristics of surface waters may limit the effectiveness of conventional approaches to nutrient management. This study evaluated the competing effects of nutrient loads and changing salinity on chlorophyll-a dynamics in Tampa Bay (Florida, USA).

In October 2025, the Maryland Water Monitoring Council Community Science Committee hosted the Data to Decisions: Why Your Data Matter workshop at the UMBC Technology Center in Halethorpe, Maryland. The workshop convened community science monitoring groups alongside state, federal, and nonprofit partners to explore how community-collected data are used in decision-making processes across Maryland and the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

The Salt Watch program monitors chloride levels in waterways as a result of road salt usage. This newsletter presents the results of the Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy's 2024-2025 Salt Watch monitoring season. It aims to educate about the impacts of road salt runoff and encourage community members to advocate for and implement responsible road salt usage.

Degradation of groundwater and surface water quality by excess pollutant loading remains one of the most persistent and costly environmental management challenges in the US. To meet applicable water quality standards and prevent excess pollutants in waterbodies, the Clean Water Act requires that total maximum daily loads (TMDLs), which define the maximum allowable daily pollutant load to a waterbody, are implemented.

IAN continues to foster strong relationships with its partners and is achieving goals related to products and dissemination. However, goals are not being met in the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice, and Education and Outreach categories, and for including Core Categories of Indicators in assessment projects. IAN also needs to promote more teaching and training opportunities.

This report card, produced with Patapsco Heritage Greenway as part of the Chesapeake Monitoring Cooperative, assesses the condition of the Patapsco River using volunteer monitoring data for the fourth year in a row.