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This spring and summer have brought more rain than usual — in May alone, parts of Maryland received nearly 9.5 inches of rain — five inches more than the 10-year average. June added another 4.5 inches, again above average. And while we know that rain replenishes our farms, gardens and forests, too much too quickly has consequences for our rivers. Stormwater runoff carries with it everything on the land — fertilizer, pet waste, sewage from failing septic systems and pollutants from roads — sending it downstream into the places where we’re swimming, fishing and boating.

Through our Swimmable ShoreRivers program, we monitor bacteria levels weekly at over 50 recreation sites across the region from Memorial Day to Labor Day. This year’s rainfall has meant more frequent “fail� results under the Maryland Department of the Environment’s (MDE) threshold for safe swimming.

Here’s why it matters. The MDE standard for swimming areas is 104 colony-forming units of enterococci per 100 milliliters of water. That’s a technical way of saying: once bacteria concentrations reach that level, the likelihood of gastrointestinal illness, skin infections or ear infections goes up. It’s not a magic line where danger suddenly begins, but a benchmark informed by decades of epidemiological data.

At ShoreRivers, we believe the story doesn’t end with failure — it begins there. Our job is not just to measure problems but to provide solutions. Rain will always fall, but what happens on the land before it reaches our rivers is up to us.

So how do we move forward? Together. We need investments in green infrastructure that slow and filter runoff, stronger agricultural best practices and upgrades to outdated septic systems and aging sewer infrastructure. And just as importantly, we need access to reliable information and shared values — families checking bacteria results before they swim, neighbors cleaning up after pets, and all of us recognizing that actions on land have impacts downstream and that these are issues that have to start being priorities at every level.

The higher fail rates we’ve seen this season are not reasons to give up — they’re reasons to lean in. With science as our guide and community as our strength, we can make our rivers swimmable — rain or shine.

BEN FORD, MATT PLUTA, ANNIE RICHARDS, ZACK KELLEHER

ShoreRivers Riverkeepers