Central VA Organization Releases Report on Stream Water Quality
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BY SEAN CUDAHY
A new report from StreamWatch indicates many streams in central Virginia aren’t very clean. Now a group of volunteers is working to change that. “Keeping our water clean is really important. Keeping it clean is a lot cheaper than cleaning it up,” said volunteer Marilyn Smith.
StreamWatch says the new data is actually an improvement from recent years. They’ve been surveying the water all over Charlottesville and Albemarle County on a yearly basis for more than a decade. The organization says they have tested 50 different area streams to see how healthy they are.
“Our streams are not in very good health. We have averaged a 67 percent failure rate over the last 11 years in streams not passing the state standard for aquatic life. By any measure, I think that’s not adequate, that we can do better. The community should do a better job of protecting our water resources,” said StreamWatch Executive Director David Hannah.
StreamWatch workers say the reason people should care is pretty simple; it’s the water that ultimately flows into the lakes you swim in, or fish in, even the reservoirs our drinking water comes from. “The Rivanna is many things to many people. It supplies drinking water to the citizens of Charlottesville, and many Albemarle County residents, it’s a place where people go to swim and fish and canoe but have fun,” Hannah said.
On this year’s survey, 64 percent of streams don’t meet the water quality standards.