What’s in your water?

A native of Maryland, I have grown up familiar with the Chesapeake Bay and the everyday mention of Bay health.  But my knowledge of the health of the Bay, barely goes beyond the common understanding of stormwater run off and excess nutrients.  As I sit here in my hotel room in Lancaster, Pa waiting for the 3rd Annual Choose Clean Water Conference to begin (my first one) I am affronted with the question of whether I really know what is in our water?  I grew up on the Gunpowder River, lived the last 4 years on the Chester River, and now drive over the Choptank River everyday to work.  I have always enjoyed the aesthetic quality the rivers provided, but when it came to what was in the water I lived happily in ignorance.  In the wake of the recent fish kills and my growing understanding of pesticides and toxics that our flowing into our waterways, the health of the bay goes beyond my simple understanding of eutrophication.

Our health is directly impacted by the health of our waterways.  I still do not know exactly what is my waterways, but I certainly plan to find out.