PotomacRiver

West Virginia's Chesapeake Bay Update

WV Chesapeake Bay Program Website  

Summer/Fall 2017, Issue 26

Quick Links

 

U.S. EPA's Chesapeake Bay TMDL website 

What's My Watershed?   

 

"What's Your BMP?" Residential Stormwater BMP Reporting Tool 

 

In This Issue
Meet Chad
Save the Date!
Gathering of Watershed Group
Back Creek Project
Watch the Website!
Soil Tunnel Trailer
Report Your Environmental Practices
Newsletter Ideas Needed
Personnel Changes 
 
Getting to Know  
Chad Thompson
 
Chad Thompson is a Stormwater Specialist with the Watershed Improvement Branch of the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection.  He is based in the Romney office, but travels throughout the 8-county Potomac Basin.  He assists with verification of stormwater Best Management Practices that have been reported to the Chesapeake Bay Program, and provides technical assistance to local governments and landowners about stormwater management.  He also reviews and edits maps related to the Chesapeake Bay watershed in West Virginia.  Given his focus on the Chesapeake Bay cleanup strategy, it is interesting to note that he is from a town called Chesapeake, Ohio!
 
  Chad has a BS in Environmental Science with a focus on Policy and Assessment from Marshall University, with minors in Biology and Parks and Recreation.
 
 You can reach him at Chad.M.Thompson@wv.gov 
  
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GET INVOLVED: UPCOMING EVENTS
  Save the Date!   
November 3-5, 2017
1 2th Annual Chesapeake Watershed Forum
Shepherdstown, WV  

This year's theme,  Healthy Lands, Healthy Waters, Healthy People will focus on the connection between the health of the Chesapeake Bay watershed and its effect on the communities that live here.
 
Registration will close on October 1, 2017 unless the event sells out prior to that date, which it often does. Friday night lodging also fills up quickly, so register now to secure your room!
   
For more information or questions about the Forum, please visit our website, contact Lou Etgen at letgen@allianceforthebay.org, or call the Alliance at (443) 949-0575. 
 
About West Virginia's Chesapeake Bay Tributary Team
Fourteen percent (14%) of West Virginia drains into the Potomac River and on to the Chesapeake Bay. In June of 2002, Governor Bob Wise signed the Chesapeake Bay Program Water Quality Initiative Memorandum of Understanding. By signing this memo, West Virginia agreed to develop goals and objectives to reduce nutrient and sediment loading to the Chesapeake Bay. 

To help WV accomplish these goals, Project Teams began working in targeted watersheds. These groups build partnerships, gather funding, and identify priority projects that are most important to their local communities.

Reducing nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment in local creeks and rivers will mean healthier water resources that are better able to sustain tourism, fishing, drinking water supplies, wildlife habitat, and other uses. Each one of us can act locally to help achieve these goals.

 

West Virginia's Chesapeake Bay Tributary Team

 
Gathering of Watershed Groups Takes Place in Martinsburg

Submitted by: Suzy Campbell, WV Conservation Agency





Did you know that approximately 60% or more of the human body is composed of water? It is one of our most precious non-renewable resources and is vital to the life of every cell in our bodies. Protecting water is about more than preserving the environment. Protecting water is protecting you, your children, and your children's children by ensuring that they have clean drinking water. There is a large effort in place in the Eastern Panhandle to protect the water that you drink, swim, fish, and play in. On May 23rd, many of the people involved in this effort attended the "Eastern Panhandle Watershed Group Gathering" in Martinsburg at the Blue Ridge Community and Technical College where 33 representatives from local nonprofits, state and federal agencies, and local governments convened to share resources, ideas, and strategies to achieve their common goal of protecting water and improving local water quality. This event is held annually by the Eastern Panhandle Conservation District (EPCD) and is geared towards local Watershed Groups (nonprofit organizations whose mission is partially or wholly focused on protecting and improving a specific waterway and its feeder streams). The gathering acts as a forum to provide these groups with tools and information that will assist them in their work, provide a platform for them to showcase their programs, and encourage conversation between all attendees so that new working relationships can form that will strengthen the overall effort to protect our water. Communication amongst these individuals is key to effectively and efficiently achieving their common goals.

Click to learn more.

Back Creek Project  
Danielle Watson, WVCA 
The West Virginia Conservation Agency has partnered with the Eastern Panhandle Conservation District, WV DNR, WV DOH, and Blue Heron Environmental Network to replace a deteriorating paved public stream access with porous pavers. This stream access/boat ramp is located within the town Shanghai, WV along Back Creek. Construction began July 17,2017 and was completed July 20,2017. The installation of this pervious parking lot system demonstrates some of the newest technology in stormwater managem en t practices
.  

 
 
 
There was approximat
ely 1,100
sq. ft. of existing impervious pavement removed and porous pavers installed at the public access. 
Click to read more
Watch the Website!!


www.wvchesapeakebay.us will have updates this fall regarding:

* Water quality monotoring results - are nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment still decreasing in the Potomac River and West Virginia's Monitored River's (Opequon, Cacapon, Patterson, and South Branch Potomac)?

*West Virginia's new (draft) nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment goals for the Phase III Watershed Implementation Plan. 
 
Soil Tunnel Trailer


Imagine you're an earthworm making your way through the soil. What do you think you would see? Insects? Specialty crops?
Report your Environmental Practices
What's your watershed BMP?

How are you protecting our lands and waters?  People like you, who install stormwater best management practices (BMPs) on your property and in the community,
help West Virginians achieve our goal of safe, swimmable, fishable, and drinkable waterways. By reporting your BMPs, you help us understand the beneficial impact
you have made.  Please share your experience.  You will help us help others improve their practices.

Report your BMP online:
Go to cacaponinstitute.org, then click the "What's Your BMP" logo.

Report your:
* Tree plantings
* Rain barrels/cisterns
* Rain gardens
* Permeable pavers
* Septic pumping
* Green roofs
* Downspout disconnections

Together, we are making our lands & rivers cleaner and healthier!

If you have questions or comments on, or suggestions for, our BMP reporting tool contact Cacapon Institute's Watershed BMP Specialist, at bmp@cacaponinstitute.org.
Newsletter Contributions Welcome!
Have a story or event you would like to share in the next edition of the WV Chesapeake Bay Newsletter?
Submit your feature or idea to awalker@wvca.us.