The Potomac River is getting its own floating guard dog— a newly-launched Riverkeeper patrol boat known as the Sea Dog.
The 42-foot deadrise will be a floating lab, used for water quality monitoring and environmental education. The Potomac Riverkeeper Network (PRKN) says the addition of the Sea Dog will “enhance PRKN’s capability to protect and defend the Potomac River.” She was christened last week.
“The Sea Dog will help me be the eyes and ears of our Nation’s river to identify sources of pollution,” says Potomac Riverkeeper, Dean Naujoks.
Naujoks tells Bay Bulletin, “The bacterial data we will obtain using the Sea Dog will provide important information to help the public know when it’s safe to be in the water and when it’s not.”
He also plans to use the boat to give volunteers a chance to help monitor the river basin.
The deadrise was donated to the Potomac Riverkeeper Network by retired Admiral J. Paul Reason and his wife Dianne. And it will have a home thanks to National Harbor.
Says PRKN president Nancy Stoner, “The biggest expense for a large boat like this is where to dock it. And boat slips on the Potomac are expensive.”
The Peterson family, which owns National Harbor, donated a marina slip for the Sea Dog for the next year.
PRKN tells us the technology needed for the Sea Dog’s water monitoring activities will be installed in the next month.
-Meg Walburn Viviano
