As if to confirm

As if to confirm my prior post about water quality, The Roanoke Times reports that the Virginia Department of Health has posted a swimming advisory at the Ponderosa Campground on the Blackwater River section of Smith Mountain Lake due to high bacteria levels. No, the streams I mentioned in that post don't flow into Smith Mountain Lake - the problems of water quality are found all over the Commonwealth.

The other day a fellow told me he'd never seen anyone swimming in Long Glade Run, a tributary of North River that regularly experiences very high bacteria levels. In doing so, he dismissed the need for riparian buffers and other programs to reduce runoff and bacteria. I pointed out that water from Long Glade eventually ends up in North River and the South Fork of the Shenandoah River. The South Fork is a popular fishing (a troubled industry) and canoeing river.

Tomorrow my son and I will kayak a few miles of North River, passing Long Glade along the way. WE ALL LIVE DOWNSTREAM.