ESTEEM Center Field Trip to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation

The Chesapeake Bay is a medium-sized body of water surrounded on three sides by Virginia and Maryland. The Chesapeake Bay watershed, however, is significantly larger. For those who don’t know what a watershed is, it is an area of land that sends water from sources, including rain, rivers, and sewers, that lead to a specific body of water. It means that if it were raining anywhere within the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, at least some rainwater would make it to the bay. The Chesapeake Bay has been having some problems with pollution recently, and a large part of the problem is having such a massive watershed. Water is adhesive, meaning it sticks to other substances. It can be a problem because it takes harmful runoff such as street sediments, snowmelt, and fertilizer along for the ride. Fortunately, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation is a non-profit organization that cleans up the bay. A few members of the ESTEEM Center got to go on a boat and learn about what they do and how they do it.