April 2022 Keeper’s Report
Welcome to your April 2022 Keeper’s Report! We are rocking and rolling this month with all things clean water!
The warmer days drawing us all closer to the waterfront, marshes, and beaches, are a strong indication that it’s time to educate yourself on what is lurking in your waterways. Never fear–we’ll provide you with that important data! Our team of water quality scientists will hit the water next Wednesday for our annual readiness review drill in preparation for weekly bacteria testing May through October so that you and your family know where it is safe to swim, boat, and fish!
We are proud to report that in April alone, our citizen-scientists will test water quality at over 30 popular sites allowing you insight into the health of your waterways. We have also equipped teams of students and families with DIY clean up supplies; we are hosting an Earth Day cleanup, dropping clean water knowledge all weekend at High Water Festival, and conducting a marsh restoration and oyster build event with SCDNR SCORE and our incredible partners from Free Fly Apparel!
Further, we’re hosting a private showing of the Creek by Creek art exhibit by the wildly successful Mary Edna Fraser and Jeff Kopish at the City Gallery alongside Coastal Conservation League and South Carolina Environmental Law Project.
We are grateful to those that step up and volunteer and to supporters like you that stand by us. We cannot do this work without you!
News
Cape Romain or septic tanks?
Your Waterkeeper, Andrew Wunderley set out to Bull’s Bay and Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge with ABCNews4, Coastal Conservation League, and Coastal Expeditions to learn more.
ABC News 4: Watch
Bacteria pollution can be avoided
Show us septic tanks and we’ll show you water unsafe for swimming and too contaminated to harvest oysters. Awendaw can do better.
Post and Courier: Read more
A ounce of prevention is worth . . .
We know what will happen when high density housing developments are built relying on septic tanks. Just ask the folks working to clean up bacteria pollution in James Island Creek! The septic tank density for these developments is way too high.
Post and Courier: Read more
Events
Private Showing of the Creek by Creek Exhibit!
Don’t miss this special showing with us, Coastal Conservation League, and the South Carolina Environmental Law Project next Thursday, April 21 at the City Gallery, 5:30 pm – 7 pm.
Earth Day Cleanup
Earth day is every day in our book! Join your Charleston Waterkeeper and our friends at Keep Charleston Beautiful as we team up for an Earth Day Cleanup of Vardell’s Creek!
Evening on Wadmalaw!
A huge thank you to Caroline and John Irwin for hosting an unforgettable evening on the Bohicket Creek. We thoroughly enjoyed the amazing company, meaningful conversations, and local beer provided by Low Tide Brewing!
Member Spotlight
Katie Zimmerman
In honor of Charleston Moves’ Mobility Month, we’re thrilled to spotlight our favorite mobility champion! Katie’s advocacy and commitment to our community inspire us every day.
Stay tuned for our joint Safe Streets, Clean Creeks event in early May!
Who won?
Thank you all for submitting your incredible and inspiring photos on your beautiful waterways! You know the dog shots pulled at our heart strings. But, if you’ve spent time on the Ashley River right off of Brittlebank Park (near two of our testing sites), you will recognize these warriors and guess what!?? They are making a comeback this year hosting the Charleston Dragon Boat Festival! The spirit and life they bring to Charleston’s waterways is awesome.
Congratulations and bravo to Debbie McIntyre Dutcher for winning our final 4 tickets to the High Water Festival. We can’t wait to see you there!
Clean Water Updates
That looks cool!
We trained up a new batch of volunteer citizen scientists for Adopt-a-Stream, or as we like to call them, Creek Watchers. These folks will adopt a site and perform monthly tests to keep an eye on waterway health.
How’s the water?
March’s data shows the dissolved oxygen levels are starting to go down as the water begins to warm up. But they’re overall still good. Except for Remley’s Point – we’ve got to figure out what’s going on there!
#ChasWaterkeeper
That was fun!
We had a blast this week giving away tickets to High Water Music Festival! Thank you to all that participated and congratulations to the lucky winners! We will see you at High Water.
Let’s Get Social
Don’t miss any of the action for clean water: especially the weekly restoration events! Be sure to follow along on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and now LinkedIn!
