River restrictions lifted but pet safety alerts announced, retirement of a Potomac advocate, river flow is looking up, and more in this week’s Potomac News Reservoir.

Five Years of Implementing the Comprehensive Plan

Our Potomac River Basin Comprehensive Water Resources Plan describes a shared vision for the basin, identifies water resources issues of interstate and/or basin wide significance, and recommends actions for achieving the shared vision. ICPRB recently released the 5-year progress report on the plan’s implementation. The report includes project highlights, such as the webinar series and Chessie BIBI, as well as ongoing activities, such as planning for the 2023 Potomac River Conference.

This year, ICPRB has assembled an advisory committee once more to evaluate current progress and update the plan for the next 5-year planning cycle.

Learn about the plan and the projects on the One Basin, One Future StoryMap.

Potomac River Conditions

River levels were heading south last week, but have since changed trajectory. As our director of CO-OP operations Cherie Schultz, exclaimed, “We are in the black!” as our 30 day precipitation is 23% above average. The 90 day average is still in the negative, but that speaks to how dry our spring was.

Current flow: 3910 cfs

Median flow: 3090 cfs

90 day precipitation: -1.6 inches

Groundwater levels are still low, causing some areas of Maryland and Virginia to remain under drought watch.

Thank you, Penny

A stalwart supporter and champion of ICPRB, Fairfax County Supervisor Penny Gross, is retiring. We would like to take a moment to acknowledge her decades of taking a comprehensive and collaborative approach to water resources in the region. She’s featured in two pieces linked below, both as a well-deserved recipient of the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay’s Fran Flanigan Award and as a subject of MWCOG’s podcast highlighting her expansive work on their board of directors.

Penny, from all of us at ICPRB, thank you and we hope you have a happy and healthy retirement!