New Tool Tracks Progress Made On Chesapeake Bay Restorations

BALTIMORE (WJZ)---What's working and what's not when it comes to the Chesapeake Bay's health?

Now that information is just a few click away thanks to the launch of the Chesapeake Bay Program's new tool.

Alex DeMetrick has more.

The Chesapeake Bay is big, but the watershed that feeds into it is huge. 150 rivers and streams from as far away as New York, all of it impacting what grows here, what lives here, what ends up on dinner plates here.

So on the Chesapeake Bay Program's web site a new tool called "ChesapeakeStat" is now available to track the progress made on Bay restorations.

The Bay program's mission is to monitor progress for state and federal agencies.

What it knows about blue crab populations is on ChesapeakeStat. It also spells out water quality in the bay and its tributaries. All the bay's pulse points open for all to see.

"It's an accountability tool actually, so people can say hey, are things moving in the right direction or the wrong direction, and if not, why not," said Nick DiPasquale, Dir. Chesapeake Bay Project.

In the past, an annual report was the primary information source.

"We actually now can allow members of the public in to look at all this information and they can keep up to date on it as things develop."

Information on ChesapeakeStat is expected to triple in content within the next few years.

For more information on ChesapeakeStat CLICK HERE.