Water quality

Water is life. We all know this, yet too often we treat water as though we could live without it. Too often, short-term perspectives win the day, resulting in incremental declines in water quality. StreamWatch’s data convincingly demonstrate that this familiar pattern is playing itself out in central Virginia.
It doesn’t have to be this way. Our local economy is not desperate, and we do not need to sacrifice future water quality for our current well-being. Indeed, if we want to continue to grow and thrive, we must protect our water. We have the technical tools – we know how to farm and build and lead our daily lives without fouling our water. But in order to apply these tools effectively, we need to understand stream conditions and the factors that create those conditions.
Further, we need to remind ourselves frequently of the long view. To help the community steward its vital water resources, StreamWatch plans to keep monitoring for decades to come, and to keep sharing its findings annually with local governments, conservation organizations, and, most importantly, the community at large. The price of healthy water is eternal vigilance!