By Paula White Last Saturday was an amazing day for the Bay, creeks and watersheds all across the state thanks to the more than 30,000 volunteers who came out to participate in Coastal Cleanup Day. In Contra Costa County, there were close to 20 events happening all at the same time, bringing out nearly 800 volunteers. Together we hauled out over 10,000 pounds of trash! Wow. The Watershed Project co-hosted two events, one in Richmond at Shimada Friendship Park and the other at Albany Beach. At Shimada, we celebrated the day with County Supervisor John Gioia and his great team, and …
Ebb & Flow
The Newsletter of The Watershed Project
Lab Tests Show that North Richmond Tap Water is Safe to Drink
By Q Quintanilla Back in 2019, The Watershed Project conducted a water needs assessment in the community of North Richmond to address water related concerns. Since that time, we were able to hear and understand the various concerns from the community, and offer a way for residents to build trust in their tap water through collecting tap water samples, sending them to a lab, analyzing the results and showcasing the results to the community. We collected water samples from 20 residents participating in this project, and are excited to have received their water quality results. For those …
Quick Update on Creek Water Quality in Contra Costa County
By Satoko Mills We are so excited to share our creek monitoring data from the first half of this year. With the great support from talented community science volunteers and partner groups, we collected over 3,000 habitat and field data points. Since 2018, The Watershed Project has been measuring vital signs of water quality in the creeks. These vital signs are temperature, conductivity, dissolved oxygen, pH and turbidity and they provide a baseline of water quality. We also measured nitrate when we were able to access the measuring device. You can learn what “vital sign” and “nitrate” means …
What’s in Your Watershed | The Vital Work of Bees
By Martha Berthelsen This article was originally published in 2013. The photos in this article differ from the original article. Most mornings, I go into my garden early and hand-pollinate my zucchini using a tiny paintbrush. Despite the overall decline of honey bees due to Colony Collapse Disorder, there are actually many of them in my garden, thanks to a neighbor with a carefully tended hive. Why aren't these bees doing their job? It's because while honey bees can pollinate squash, they aren't very good at it. The best pollinator for squash, aptly named the squash bee, is native to the …
Do People Really Prefer Plastic?
By Paula White If you’ve been reading this newsletter for a while, by now you probably know that there are eco-friendly alternatives to plastic packaging, everything from compostable straws made from paper or spaghetti noodles, water bottles made of algae, to shipping containers made from mushrooms. Cities, states, and counties have banned plastic bags, styrofoam food containers, plastic straws and other plastic packaging. So why do we humans still generate mountains of plastic waste every day? In the classic 1967 film The Graduate, the main character Ben is at a graduation party when …
Thank you for Rocking the Bay with us!
Hello to all you party attendees and to all of you who helped make The Watershed Project’s 25th Anniversary Celebration on June 30, Rock the Bay, a smashing success! The event was so much fun and we really appreciate everyone that turned out. It was a treat to see so many friends, community members, and supporters after so many dark months of COVID. Thanks for celebrating with us! We’d like to truly thank the fabulous venue, Riggers Loft, who provided us with a superb space and top-notch food, wine, and cider. We’re so glad that we met Barrio Manouche and they were available to …
What’s in Your Watershed? |Gorgeous and Poisonous: The Pipevine Swallowtail Butterfly
By Martha Berthelsen This is a What’s in Your Watershed? archive edition, meaning it was originally published back in 2014 and it to this day one of our most popular articles. Photos differ from the original article. The iridescent blue-black pipevine swallowtail butterfly will only lay her eggs on the California Dutchman's-pipe vine, and I was delighted when one of them chose the plant in my backyard this March. The caterpillars that hatched a few weeks later were tiny and seemed fragile, but their vibrant black and orange colors accented with spiny protrusions give a clear warning …
SOS: Building a community of creek stewards
The rains have stopped, so for The Watershed Project that means it’s trash assessment season. Since 2014, The Watershed Project has been conducting “hot spot” trash assessments along several creek sites in Contra Costa County to fulfill the stormwater trash reduction requirements set forth by the Regional Water Quality Control Board. In addition to removing trash along 300 linear feet of the creek channel and along the banks, we collect data on the types of trash found in order to determine the main sources of trash and develop control strategies to achieve the ambitious zero trash goal by …
