Community Partner: Blue Water Baltimore
Intern: Yuan Hao Wong
Site Supervisor: Katie Dix
What is Blue Water Baltimore?
Blue Water Baltimore’s mission is to restore the quality of Baltimore’s rivers, streams and
harbor to foster a healty environment, a strong economy and thriving community.
Tasks:
• Conducted tidal and non‐tidal water quality
sampling to monitor historically contaminated sites
• Assisted in various volunteer events such as Adopt‐
A‐Stream training, Stream Clean‐ups and Rain Barrel
Workshops.
• Worked with the tree planting team in carrying out
tree sampling and maintenance across various
planting sites
If I were to describe my internship experience using a phrase, it will be: "Every drop counts". This
phrase embodies the very message that Blue Water seeks to spread to the Baltimore community – a
message that serves to ignite a greater sense of ownership of our local water bodies and to impassion
the community into taking concrete actions to keep our streams clean. In these 8 weeks, I was part of a
several tidal and non‐tidal water quality sampling projects, where I helped monitor the water quality at
various historically contaminated sites. In addition, I took part in various outreach programs such as
Canoe‐And‐Scoop, trash‐cleanups and storm drain stenciling. I was also involved in tree surveys and
maintenance of previous plantings. As diverse as all these projects may sound, it dawned upon me that
we are always working towards the same goal all these while; that all these activities are tributaries
leading to the overarching aim of engaging the community in Blue Water’s efforts to promote cleaner
and healthier water bodies here in Baltimore. Each program may require hours of planning and
execution but these programs are the “drops” that matter, perhaps not too palpable now, but certainly
in years to come. My stint at Blue Water Baltimore has filled me with hope, that one day this city will
have a clean and healthy harbor for all to enjoy‐ Yuan
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