LEONARDTOWN, Md. – Water quality monitoring is essential to protect vital ecosystems such as the Chesapeake Bay. To ensure the health of nature and wildlife in the Chesapeake Bay, Breton Observation Boxes (BOBs) were developed by students and teachers at the Dr. James A. Forrest Career and Technology Center as a low-cost, efficient way of remotely monitoring water quality.
The project was first started to help monitor water quality conditions, showing not just what the problems were and when they occur but to also help scientists gather the information with ease, according to the Breton Observation Boxes’ information website. The BOBs are small and portable, measuring air and water temperatures, pH levels, conductivity, dissolved oxygen, salinity and turbidity.
A second-year grant for the continued development of BOBs is currently being applied for, according to Dorothy Birch, Natural Resources Management Teacher at St. Mary’s County Public Schools.
During the summer, activities with the BOBs include cleaning biofouling, microorganisms, plants and other obstructions, off the probes so they can continue collecting data and sharing information from the BOBs with teachers to make the data useful to students all over Maryland.
“There should be plenty of news after the school year starts,” Birch stated. “We’re working with the video audio classes this fall to create videos about the project.”
The BOBs will have 7 locations across southern Maryland, they will be located on piers and piling so as not to present hazards to navigation, according to the Breton Observation Boxes’ information website.
The locations for the BOBs will be near the mouths of McIntosh Run, Moll Dyer Run, Cherry Creek, and Combs Creek. As well as the outflow of Brenton Bay to the Potomac near Newtowne Neck State Park, along with one at the Chesapeake Biological Laboratories (CBL).
While major developments aren’t happening with the BOBs during the summer, live data and information about the BOBs are available by checking their website at http://bit.ly/BOBswaterobs.
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