As last year ended, we promised big things were in the works at APCC for 2023. The new year is off to a fast start with APCC having been awarded a competitively bid contract from Barnstable County to manage the water quality monitoring component of the Freshwater Initiative. Partnering with the Cape Cod Commission, APCC is excited to help elevate the understanding of challenges to freshwater water quality. It is our hope and expectation that, armed with data and insight, a management consensus can be forged that will result in the protection and restoration of the almost 900 lakes and ponds that help define the Cape’s environment.
Lest there be any doubt, we have a lot of work to do to scale up and we are already putting the pieces in place. APCC will be reaching out to our friends and collaborators to build new, and expand existing, relationships as the effort moves forward. This work will supplement, and not replace, our ongoing focus on cyanobacteria monitoring. Taken together, the cyano monitoring and the new monitoring of conventional water quality parameters provide an unprecedented opportunity to make a quantum step forward in our collective ability to understand what is happening in our freshwater environment.
This is just the first of a several new initiatives planned for 2023 and beyond. Stay tuned.
