The Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin (ICPRB) is seeking applicants for two positions. ICPRB’s mission is to enhance, protect, and conserve the waters and associated land resources of the Potomac River basin and its tributaries through regional and interstate cooperation. Applications are due January 10, 2025.

Ecological Technician

The Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin (ICPRB) seeks an enthusiastic, entry-level ecological technician for its aquatic habitats program.  This is a full-time, 2-year position with potential for long-term employment. The individual will support ICPRB staff in conducting field work, geospatial and desktop analyses, interpretation of bio-statistics, biological dataset management, producing data, information, and reports about the condition of non-tidal streams and rivers in the Potomac River basin and the larger Chesapeake Bay watershed. Examples of specific activities include working with project teams to assemble and analyze water quality and biological monitoring data sets collected from non-tidal streams and rivers; assisting in field work to collect water quality, biological, and physical habitat data; and participating in regional efforts to improve monitoring program coordination.

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Water Resources Internships

Up to three paid internships are available for the spring/summer of 2025.

ICPRB has openings for up to three interns for the spring and summer semesters. The primary tasks of these internships are to support the water resources program, assist with updating the water quality data inventory, and archive ICPRB photographs and reports. The start and end dates are negotiable, approximately March to August, 2025. All internships will be completed no later than August 29, 2025. These are paid, temporary positions with flexible working hours. Pay is $17/hr. ICPRB is located in Rockville, Maryland.

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ICPRB has a new address, holiday boat parades, an update on drought conditions, and more, in this week’s Potomac News Reservoir – Dec 5, 2024 >>>

River Report: Remaining steady, but dry

While areas north of us are getting slammed with multiple feet of snow, our region is forecasted to receive roughly 1 inch of precipitation in the coming week.

According to the most recent U.S. Drought Monitor, with the exception of a tiny portion in Pennsylvania that is abnormally dry (yellow), almost the entirety of the Potomac River watershed remains in moderate to severe drought conditions. There is not much of a shift in percentages from last week.

The river flow at Point of Rocks continues to fall following last week’s rainstorms but remains above the ICPRB CO-OP Drought Monitoring threshold of 2,000 cubic feet per second.-

As a reminder, the D.C. Metro area remains in the drought watch declared by MWCOG back in July. Much of the Potomac region of both Virginia and Maryland also remains in a drought watch status. Authorities are asking folks to use water wisely by following simple action items like taking shorter showers, only running the laundry and dishwasher when full, and turning off the faucet when not actively using it.

The Past, Present, and Future of the Potomac River

ICPRB Executive Director Michael Nardolilli recently spoke on a webinar with the Master Gardeners of Northern Virginia and Arlington Regional Master Naturalists about the Potomac River and ICPRB’s work.

He took them on a journey through the past, present, and future of our nation’s river, covering the struggles and triumphs of the river that provides drinking water for more than 5 million people in the Metro DC region. Nardolilli revealed the river’s incredible history and dove into drought, contaminants, policies, emergency response, and more.

Watch the video >>>

ICPRB’s First Quarter Business Meeting on December 17

The ICPRB First Quarter Business Meeting is coming up on Tuesday, December 17, 2024. The meeting will be held virtually on Teams. Commissioners will discuss progress made on the Low Flow Allocation Agreement, consider the adoption of a Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice (DEIJ) Land Acknowledgment statement, and hear about ICPRB’s recent work on creating an American eel passage in the Potomac mainstem. Find the draft agenda on the Business Meetings site.

The public is invited to view the virtual meeting or provide public comment. Please contact us by Friday, December 13, for more information on how to attend.

We’ve Moved!

We are excited to announce that we have moved ICPRB offices! The new offices have a smaller footprint and are closer to public transportation to better reflect our mission.

The offices have a lab for field staff and beautiful conference rooms to collaborate with our partners. We still maintain our in-office library with almost a century of Potomac River materials, including original ICPRB reports.

Our new address is 401 N. Washington St., Ste 300, Rockville, MD, 20850.

New records set, burn bans across the region, drought watch still in effect, and more, in this week’s Potomac News Reservoir – Nov. 14, 2024 >>>

River Report: October was one of the warmest and driest on record

Our record-breaking streak of 38 days without rain was broken on Sunday. We’ve been dry ever since. A small chance of rain is in the forecast for the coming days. Experts say that we will need an extended period of soaking rain to ease us out of the dry conditions that have caused authorities to enact burn bans as wildfires are popping up throughout the region.

According to NOAA, October was the second-warmest and second-driest on record. Recent USGS research indicates warmer temperatures may have more severe impacts on drought than previously known due to the heat-induced moisture loss. According to the authors, “droughts will last longer, cover wider areas, and become more severe as the climate warms.”

Due to the persistent dry conditions, staff in ICPRB’s Section for Cooperative Water Supply Operations (CO-OP) released a November Water Supply Outlook earlier this week.

Highlights from the report:

• CO-OP commenced its fourth “Drought Monitoring” period of the year on November 1.
• The Potomac basin upstream of Washington, D.C., received 0.8 inches of rain in October, which is 2.2 inches below normal.
• Streamflow is currently below normal.
• Groundwater levels are below normal in many observation wells in the basin.

According to the U.S. Drought Monitor Map released today (see below), the amount of the Potomac watershed in Moderate Drought jumped by 22% in the past week.

ICPRB’s Webinar: Integrating Climate and Resilience with Equity

Join ICPRB at noon on December 6 for the next installment of our webinar series. Integrating Climate and Resilience with Equity will highlight data and tools to better understand and characterize climate and flooding threats, focusing on vulnerable and underserved communities. We will also explore funding opportunities to support resilient communities.

This webinar will be helpful to policymakers, government agencies, community Green Teams, HOAs, and anyone interested in creating a more resilient community. Click here to register >>>

This webinar series for land use decision-makers is produced by ICPRB as part of the implementation of the Potomac basin-wide comprehensive plan. Find previous webinars on our YouTube page.

Regional Drought Watch continues, fires banned throughout the watershed, and more, in this week’s Potomac News Reservoir – Nov. 7, 2024 >>>

River Report: New Record for Dry-streak

lot happened this past week (that wasn’t election-related). Last Friday, ICPRB initiated daily drought monitoring and the Metropolitan Washington Council of Government’s Drought Coordination Technical Committee recommended to keep the region under the Drought Watch that was declared back in July. On Wednesday, the DC area beat the longest dry streak on record at 35 days with no rain. A small spritz is in the forecast for today, but it may not be substantial enough to end the dry streak.

We continue to encourage wise water use by taking actions such as reducing your shower time, only running full loads of dishes and laundry, and turning the faucet off when not in use.

The colorful map below shows the entirety of the Potomac River watershed ranges from abnormally dry to extremely dry. Over 50% of the area is in Moderate Drought (D1).

River levels continue to drop well below the 50th percentile, as seen in the graph of the adjusted flow at Little Falls.

The dry conditions have spurred the states of Maryland and West Virginia as well as the regions of Shenandoah Valley to declare a burn ban to prevent fires.

We will be publishing a November Water Supply Outlook in the next week. Typically, the reports are only published April through October, but due to the current conditions, we are continuing to publish through the fall.

Protecting our drinking water is a group effort

Yesterday, members of the Potomac River Basin Drinking Water Source Protection Partnership (DWSPP) met for their annual meeting at the offices of Loudoun Water in Ashburn, VA. DWSPP is a coalition of water suppliers and government agencies working together on source water protection issues. ICPRB coordinates the partnership.

During the meeting, the group heard a series of presentations about the importance of communicating their good work on protecting our sources of drinking water. We are grateful to Loudoun Water for hosting the event and for providing the tours of their Broad Run Water Reclamation Facility and the Beaverdam Reservoir Park.

We would like to thank Kishia Powell of WSSC Water for her leadership as chair over the past year. During the meeting, she “passed the gavel” to Jayne Brown of DC Department of Energy and Environment (DOEE), who will serve as the 2025 chair of DWSPP.

See more photos on our Facebook post >>>