C5 is creating an environmental monitoring data hub for the Charles City County community

C5 is concerned with the quality of the air, water, and soil in our county as industrial development continues to expand. We are establishing an environmental monitoring program to inform Charles City County community members about environmental quality issues and to encourage protection of our shared natural environment.

Our plans include:

Supplementing air and water quality data collected by state agencies and other monitoring organizations
Documenting air and water quality changes over time
Identifying potential air and water quality issues
Determining the impact of land use activity (urban, industrial, agricultural, etc.) on the environment

Air Quality - the air we breathe

County residents need access to real-time, localized pollution data to understand the importance of air quality and how to protect themselves on poor air quality days.

C5 is establishing a network of low-cost, ambient air quality sensors in the county to provide community members with real-time, easily accessible information about local levels of air pollution.

C5 will also raise awareness within the community of more air quality and pollution data available to county residents from the VCU Rice Rivers Center and other environmental agencies.

C5 air quality monitoring plans:

Community near-source monitoring of pollutants in the air through a network of hyper-local air quality sensors. Read more about what our PurpleAir sensors can do!
Raising awareness of other high-quality air quality monitoring equipment in our county:
- Virginia Department of Environmental Quality air quality monitoring station located at Shirley Plantation
- Pandonia Global Network Charles City, VA, station at VCU Rice Rivers center measuring air quality, aerosols, clouds, and greenhouse gases
- AERONET instrument at VCU Rice Rivers Center measuring aerosol optical depth (AOD), a measure of the amount of light that aerosols - including pollutants - scatter and absorb in the atmosphere

Water Quality - the water that sustains us and our environment

Through its water quality monitoring program, C5 will support volunteer monitoring of water quality in the county and expand the number and frequency of water bodies that are monitored.

Water quality monitoring data like dissolved oxygen and transparency can indicate whether streams are consistently flowing or becoming stagnant, or over-filled with sediment. Evaluating the abundance and variety of benthic macroinvertebrates (bottom-dwelling aquatic animals and larval stages of insects) can give an indication of the biological condition and quality of a stream.

This monthly and bi-annual water quality data will provide a picture of water health trends and educate county residents on the importance of water quality in our county.

C5 water quality monitoring plans:

Monthly chemical water quality monitoring and bi-annual biological monitoring of benthic macroinvertebrates at two waterbodies along Route 5 in the southern part of the county
Future expansion to monitoring more waterbodies throughout the county
Raising awareness of other water quality monitoring occurring in our county:
- Virginia Department of Environmental Quality has sampled waterbodies throughout the county over the years, these results are available to the public
- The Chesapeake Monitoring Cooperative is a coalition of organizations sampling waterbodies throughout the state and recently in Charles City County
- VCU Rice Rivers Center hosts equipment on their pier recording continuous water quality conditions of the James River in our county

Soil Quality - encouraging organic and regenerative community farming

Charles City County is home to over 33,000 acres of farmland. Agriculture is at the heart of our community. C5 and Project BLACC operate a seven acre farm in the county using sustainable agricultural methods. Healthy soil plays an important part in our farm’s continued success.

As a part of our environmentally supportive practices, C5 performs regular soil testing to assess the availability of essential nutrients in our soil. These tests measure the levels of pH, potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, and other minerals in the soil in order to make effective decisions about whether and how much amendments, like organic fertilizers, to add to the soil.

C5 will perform annual soil sampling tests on the C5 and Project BLACC farm once a year and will provide those results, and our plans for soil amending, to our community.