When entrusted with protecting and preserving the Potomac River and its resources, it is important to reflect on where we have been and where we are going. In our 2023 Annual Report, we do just that. We explore our mission, vision, values, and goals. We pay tribute to our colleague and friend, Curtis Dalpra, who unexpectedly passed early in the year. We celebrate the highlights and staff successes over the year. And finally, we set our sights on the goals and possibilities of 2024.
The paper explores the feasibility of a microplastic monitoring program in the nontidal Potomac basin. It was written as part of ICPRB’s 2022 Clean Water Act Section 106 Potomac Basin Water Quality Improvement grant, which included an activity to “assist water suppliers in VA, MD, and DC in developing microplastic sampling and analysis methodologies and conduct field sample collection.”
Section 2 describes considerations for collecting and processing samples for microplastics analysis.
Section 3 provides a brief explanation of analytical methods and quality control recommendations for the detection, quantification, and identification of microplastics.
New data shows an improvement in stream health across the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
A popular song in the hit Broadway show, Rent, asks how to measure a year. In minutes? In moments? A recent report from the Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin (ICPRB) explores how scientists can measure stream health. By macroinvertebrates? By miles? The experts at the Chesapeake Bay Program think so. Chessie BIBI, a data-tracking tool used to calculate the health of small- to medium-sized streams, suggests a roughly 6 percent improvement in stream health in the Bay watershed.
The Chesapeake Basin-wide Index of Biotic Integrity, known in the water-world as Chessie BIBI, is a multi-metric index calculated from the numbers and types of small animals, called macroinvertebrates, that live in free-flowing (non-tidal) streams of the Bay watershed. The index relies on data collected by state, federal, county, and volunteer monitoring programs to track the number of “healthy” stream miles in the region from year to year. Chessie BIBI is a long-term ICPRB evaluation that provides water quality assessment for the Potomac basin and the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
As Dr. Claire Buchanan, co-author of the report and Emerita Director of Program Operations at ICPRB, explains,
“You can tell a lot about the health of a stream by what lives at the bottom. A quality stream has an abundance of life and many species from across the food web. You won’t see that in an unhealthy stream.”
To capture the full picture over a longer period, Chessie BIBI tracked three 6-year time periods between 2000 and 2017. The time periods were designated pre-baseline, baseline, and first interval. The baseline period is from the 2014 Chesapeake Bay Agreement which established a stream health goal to, “Improve health and function of ten percent of stream miles above the 2008 baseline for the watershed.” This report compared the healthy stream miles from the baseline period (2006 – 2011) to the first interval period (2012 – 2017) and found that the number of healthy stream miles went from 61.7 percent to 67.8 percent, respectively.
According to the report, there are many ways to measure stream health. Chessie BIBI is just one of them, but it is a good overall indication of stream health across the Bay watershed. Dr. Buchanan says that Chessie BIBI can be used as a management tool to track progress across jurisdictional boundaries and towards the goals set out in the Bay Agreement.
“Improvement is not happening across the board, but the overall picture is positive. We are excited about the trajectory and hope to see the trend continue as we examine successive 6-year periods in the future. We are currently collecting data for the next 6-year period of 2018 – 2023,” says Dr. Buchanan.
The report does not point to a specific reason for increased stream health but suggests a combination of stressors are now probably low or abating, allowing an overall improvement in the Chessie BIBI index in undisturbed streams.
According to the report, studies have linked poor stream health with altered stream flows, excessive nutrients and sediment, urban landcover, acid deposition and mine drainage, and climate change.
The ICPRB is an interstate compact commission established by Congress in 1940. Its mission is to protect and enhance the waters and related resources of the Potomac River basin through science, regional cooperation, and education. Represented by appointed commissioners, the ICPRB includes the District of Columbia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, and the federal government.
ICPRB, on behalf of the major metropolitan area water suppliers, recently commissioned a study on the feasibility of using the Travilah Quarry in Rockville, Md., as a potential raw water supply storage facility. The quarry could serve as a supplement to existing water supply for the Washington Aqueduct, which supplies water to the District of Columbia via DC Water, and Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission. The Travilah Quarry study, and others like it, are being performed throughout the watershed.
This week, the Commission hosted the first of several round-table discussions with state agencies, water suppliers and additional stakeholders to discuss water markets and other promising tools for managing water scarcity. “One of the Commission’s most important roles is to bring people together to discuss the important issues facing the basin, and that is what we are trying to do in our new water markets discussion series,” says Dr. Cherie Schultz, Director of Operations for ICPRB’s CO-OP Section. ICPRB is also planning a study that explores the viability of additional water supply alternatives.
With some forethought and careful planning, we are confident that the future holds sufficient clean, healthy water for all who live in the Potomac River watershed.
What makes streams most susceptible to the impacts of impervious cover?
A recently released study by ICPRB, entitled The Effects of Impervious Cover on Streamflow under Various Watershed Conditions in the Potomac Basin: Phase 1, found that impervious cover is particularly prone to altering streamflows in watersheds with steep slopes. Small headwater streams are also especially susceptible to the impacts of impervious cover. These initial findings are only a first part of the study. Phase 2, scheduled for completion in September 2017, will explore the question using the latest data at a higher spatial resolution. You can read the full study on our website.
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