On Sunday, June 14, Jefferson Patterson Park hosted the 28th Annual Patuxent River Wade In! Every year Senator Bernie Fowler invites friends and family to join him as he walks into the Patuxent River—just far enough until he no longer can see his white sneakers. The Wade In provides an opportunity for people in the community to see how the river is being affected each year, and understand the importance of water quality. People also got a chance to hear from elected officials about ongoing efforts to help improve the river’s water quality. The Patuxent Voices dedicated a few songs to the river and ended with a beautiful performance of “God Bless America”. The event was free and so was the delicious lemonade.
At this year’s Wade In, Senator Fowler was able to walk 44 inch deep until he could no longer see his shoes, about an 8 inch improvement for last year. Bernie described the event as “The purpose is to get a metric of water clarity. Only some can sit and listen to a bunch of scientists use a bunch of technical terms and theories, and actually understand it—but everybody can understand if you can’t see your shoes, the water is dirty, and we need to do something about that! At the end of the day, love God, love each other, and keep on smiling!” Very well put Senator.
The Chesapeake Biological Lab will be celebrating their 90th birthday this year, and has kept over 30,000 records of the bay. “We could tell you the temperature of the water on any day back during WWII”. Perhaps one of the most important discoveries made, is that forty years ago, the bay was four degrees cooler. So even if you do not believe in global warming (which you should), it is our responsibility to do our part to help protect our river and bay!
Chanel M Underwood / Calvert Beacon Intern
