What's Up Annapolis

By Dotty Holcomb Doherty

On summer days the South River hums with throngs of pleasure boaters and crab-hunting trot liners. Children splash at community beaches. Osprey young hatch and juvenile fish feed in the shallows. But this carefree scene has a dark side. Recurrent algae blooms suck up dissolved oxygen, bacterial counts soar after rainstorms, and sediment-laden waters prevent growth of underwater grasses.

The South River Federation (SRF) and devoted volunteers are working hard to reverse this trend of degradation. Their goal: to bring the South River back to its former vitality.

Volunteers scour area creeks
By HEATHER ROTH, Staff Writer
Published 04/05/09

To save the Chesapeake Bay, start at the source.

That's what Mel Wilkins of Gambrills, a member of the Spa Creek Conservancy, told the more than 70 volunteers who gathered at the headwaters of Spa Creek yesterday morning, at the end of South Cherry Grove Avenue in Annapolis.

UM report card gives F to rivers, C- to bay
By PAMELA WOOD, Staff Writer
Published 04/03/09

BOWIE - Anne Arundel County's rivers - the Magothy, Severn, South, West and Rhode - have the poorest health of all the rivers in the Chesapeake Bay region.

The rivers, grouped together as the Lower Western Shore, flunked an annual bay health report card issued yesterday by the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science.

But annual score 'not all doom and gloom'
By E.B. FURGURSON III, Staff Writer
Published 03/17/09

The troubled South River's water quality has shown little improvement since last year, scoring a dismal 33 on a 100-point scale, according to an annual report.