OPERATION CLEARWATER to begin its 36th year in 2010

Now that spring is here, can the swimming season be far away? It’s time to plan for this summer’s water quality monitoring program. Operation Clearwater will supply swimmers and other recreational water users again this year with valuable information on the bacteriological quality of their water. This program was recognized by the Sierra Club in 2003 as an important tool in assessing and improving water quality. We will again be monitoring the group of bacteria known as enterococci this summer. The occurrence of these indicator organisms has been shown to be the best predictor of the likelihood of contracting gastrointestinal illness from swimming.

We sample community beaches and marinas throughout the Severn River watershed, collecting water samples on Wednesday mornings, and providing data on counts of enterococci by Thursday afternoons. Data will be posted on the web at www.severnriver.org. Samples are collected by Sally or by a student at Anne Arundel Community College and are processed at the Environmental Center at AACC.

The cost of each week’s sample is $27. Communities may sign up for the full 14 week program (May 20 through August 18) at a cost of $378 or they may elect to be sampled every other week at a cost of $189. Applications will not be sent by mail this year, but they can be downloaded here. Please feel free to contact me by email or phone with questions at Clearwater@severnriver.org or at work 410 777-2842 or home 410 647 6254.

Click below for an application.

Operation Clearwater 2010 Application

Operation Clearwater Results

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