Photo: WINA
CHARLOTTESVILLE (WINA) – Albemarle County is inviting residents to either of two Zoom virtual kickoffs of the Stream Health Initiative. The first meeting is Thursday night at 6, or you can catch the meeting Friday at noon. The county says both meetings will have the same content. You will view a brief introduction on the health of Albemarle County’s waterways, then you’ll learn about timelines and ways you can participate in the effort.
The reasons for this initiative is the latest water quality samples taken by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality found 56% of Albemarle’s river and stream miles were “impaired”. This means they don’t meet state standards for use, whether for drinking water, swimming, or fishing. Sixty-percent of the waterways in the Rivanna Watershed were either “fair” or “poor”, meaning they don’t meet state standards to sustain aquatic life. Much of the cause over the last 20 years is significant loss of forested