Clarke County’s Spout Run watershed is comprised of 14 miles of perennial streams, many of which are spring-fed. So, Spout Run has the potential to provide clean water and support a large variety of wildlife species. Yet, the streams are considered unhealthy due to the levels of nutrients and sediment from fertilizers, livestock, and other human-related activities. For this reason, the Spout Run watershed is on Virginia’s State Impaired Waters List. This is bad news not only for the wildlife and people living around the watershed, but also for those downstream—including the Chesapeake Bay.

Spout Run will soon be getting some much needed tender love and care. PEC is partnering with Clarke County, and several area non-profits, through a project called “C Spout Run”—a community-based, cooperative effort to improve the water quality so that the watershed meets the State’s standards.

Through this project, PEC will host Sustainable Landscaping Workshops for residents living in, or around, the watershed. These workshops will feature a variety of experts to discuss ways people can adjust their landscaping habits to save time and money, while simultaneously cleaning up the Spout Run watershed.

The project will also include the initiation of a benthic macroinvertebrate (small animals living in the stream) monitoring program for Clarke County, with a focus on Spout Run. Residents can attend training sessions this coming winter to learn how to monitor and identify what they find in the stream—enabling everyone to get a better sense of the health of the watershed.

Clarke County residents have a history of taking action to protect their natural resources, and “C Spout Run” is another example of the local initiative to ensure a clean environment for today’s residents— and for the generations to come.

If you want to learn more about this project, visit www.spoutrun.org. For more information, contact PEC’s Clarke County Land Use Officer, Gem Bingol at gbingol@pecva.org.