Meet Your New Baltimore Harbor Waterkeeper: Alice Volpitta!
Blue Water Baltimore is pleased to announce that our lead water quality scientist Alice Volpitta has been appointed as our new Baltimore Harbor Waterkeeper!
A Maryland native and resident of Baltimore City, Volpitta has served as Blue Water Baltimore’s lead water quality scientist for nearly six years. Her areas of expertise include water quality monitoring, data management, and enforcement, and she has spent hundreds of hours patrolling and surveying Baltimore’s streams, rivers, and harbor.
Volpitta directs Blue Water Baltimore’s water quality monitoring program, which tests water health at 49 locations across Baltimore City, Baltimore County, and Anne Arundel County. Through her leadership, key components of the organization’s monitoring program have achieved Tier III status – the highest level of rigor – as recognized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Volpitta credits her work with former Waterkeepers at Blue Water Baltimore for sparking her passion for clean water and holding polluters accountable. “They showed me what it truly means to be a Waterkeeper,” said Volpitta. “The Patapsco and Back Rivers and the streams that flow into them are living entities, a vital resource for millions of people. These waterways and the communities who depend upon them deserve to have their voices heard.”
Blue Water Baltimore is a member of the Waterkeeper Alliance, a coalition of watershed groups that patrol and protect more than 2.5 million square miles of rivers, lakes, bays, and coastal waterways worldwide.
“Alice has kept an eye on our waterways and been a voice for our communities for years,” said Jenn Aiosa, Blue Water Baltimore’s Executive Director. “As the Baltimore Harbor Waterkeeper, she will ensure that Blue Water Baltimore continues to prioritize science and the law as we advocate for fishable, swimmable waterways for everyone in the Baltimore region.”
Volpitta holds a degree in Biology and Environmental Science from St. Mary’s College of Maryland. She previously worked with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources as a natural resources biologist before joining Blue Water Baltimore in 2014.
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Featured image: Baltimore Harbor Waterkeeper Alice Volpitta (left) and volunteer Rose Dunn (behind right) collecting samples along Jones Falls as part of Blue Water Baltimore’s routine water quality monitoring.