water quality

At the beginning of the summer, the Environmental Protection Agency predicted that 2007 would be an “average” year for water quality conditions in the Chesapeake Bay. The Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) spent the summer collecting reports from citizens, government officials and agencies, partner groups, and our own employees’ first-hand experience to determine just what an “average” year looks like. "Average" is looking pretty sad. Check out the photo album, too.

In this video, Chesapeake Bay Foundation's Senior Scientist Beth McGee and Senior Naturalist John Page Williams demonstrate one of the ways scientists measure the Dead Zone -- by seeing what's living under the surface.

Five scientists pushing the boundaries on environmental topics have been awarded the prestigious $500,000 prize, as part of the 24 total from many disciplines. Includes an expert working on global bee decline, an innovative spider silk biologist (stronger than steel!) and water quality engineer.

Sure, beach closings in Hawaii jumped way up last year as we floundered through 40 days and nites of rain. That’s one of the key findings in a report just out from the National Resources Defense Council. Still, to say that Hawaii is responsible for the nation’s poor showing on this score is to miss the point of the story. Much of the nation learned about this from headlines like “Hawaii woes push up U.S. beach closures”. The story might better be cast in terms of extreme weather events, and what the nation can expect as these increase.