StreamWatch Releases Health Report and Assessment of Streams and Rivers in the Rivanna River Watershed

PRESS ADVISORY:  StreamWatch Releases Health Report and Assessment of Streams and Rivers in the Rivanna River Watershed

StreamWatch has issued a new stream health and assessment report, as announced at a press conference this morning, June 18, at Riverview Park in Charlottesville.

The report and associated Press Release are available on the StreamWatch website, . 

Click here to access the report, Rivanna River Watershed: 2012-2014 Stream Health Report.

Click here to access the Press Release.

Click here to access the remarks I made at the press conference. 

StreamWatch’s assessments are based on the premise that healthy streams sustain a diverse community of aquatic organisms.  Using sampling protocols approved by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, StreamWatch volunteers sample the organisms living in streambeds to determine their diversity and relative abundance.  This sampling is the foundation of StreamWatch’s work. 

At this morning’s press conference, StreamWatch volunteers and staff demonstrated the sampling techniques we use, showed living examples of the organisms sampled, and explained what they tell us about the health of the river.

The new report is the sixth streams assessment report that StreamWatch has developed since beginning its water quality monitoring services in 2003.  It is the first report to incorporate data from all 50 of the stream sites where sampling takes place.  StreamWatch has expanded the total number of sampling locations over the years – from 25 in the first few years of sampling, to 38 sites in 2007, and to 50 sites in 2013.

Please contact me if you have any questions.

David Hannah
Executive Director
StreamWatch
P.O. Box 681
Charlottesville, VA  22902
(434) 244-7879 office
(434) 422-2415 cell
dhannah@