ANNAPOLIS, Md. — A certain mystique laps upon the shores. Even in the dead of winter on the Chesapeake Bay, there are still plenty of signs of life.

"This time of year, I notice how clear the water is," said Beth McGee, who has spent decades studying the nation's largest estuary.

On the surface, things may look calm here. However, this watershed, which touches six states and spans over 64,000 square miles, is sick.

"All told the bay is still struggling," said McGee, who works for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

Every year, the nonprofit gives this waterway a grade based on how healthy it is. This year, it received a D+.

"Climate change is making our restoration efforts more challenging. More severe storms are bringing more pollution into the bay," McGee said.

What’s happening here has become a case study on just how hard it is to clean up and restore vital watersheds and estuaries, as well as reverse the impacts of pollution and global warming even as costly plans are being put in place nationwide to push back against climate change.

Environmentalists first started realizing how polluted the Chesapeake was back in the 1970s. By 2010, government agencies, nonprofits and environmentalists started taking action to clean it up.

"People across the country were saying, 'We need to watch this,' because they are setting themselves up for success. They have plans. They have accountability that no other watershed has had," McGee added.

Thirteen years later, though, progress has been slow.

Across the lower 48 states, there are 78 major watersheds, essentially basins catching water from rivers as they hit the sea. But of the more than 700,000 miles of waterways in the US, nearly 51% are impaired by pollution.

"One hundred years ago, people didn’t give rivers and streams much thought," explained Matt Ehrhart with the Stroud Water Research Center. "Clean fresh water is one of the most vital resources we have."

Ehrhart says that these days, most pollutants in our nation's watersheds come from agriculture. Fertilizers and pesticides used on crops often run off into nearby rivers and streams. There are other causes, like runoff from the road salt we use in the winter.

"It’s critical the way we live on the landscape doesn’t unduly impact those resources," he added.

Once dry and desolate, this riverbed in southern Arizona has been given new life.

“The idea of bringing water back to the Santa Cruz River for Tucsonans has been around for about 100 years. That's when the Santa Cruz River stopped flowing because of overpumping of the aquifer here in Tucson for the agriculture that was going on here in the early 1900s,” John Kmiec, the interim director of Tucson Water, said.

Here in the desert, every drop of water counts.

“South of where we’re standing, this is what the Santa Cruz looked like…it’s dry. It's been like that since the 1920s almost continuously. It only responds for rain,” he explained. “If you want to see abundant life in the desert, just add water, and it's amazing what happens after that.”

So that’s what Tucson water did back in the summer of 2019 – by putting water back where it used to be as part of the Santa Cruz River Heritage Project.

“This is highly treated effluent from our regional wastewater treatment plant,” Kmiec explained. “Our daily flow right now is about 1,500 gallons per minute.”

“We had more than 400 people at about 110 degrees down in this riverbed when we turned this outfall on,” he explained.

The recycled water runs 24/7 into where the Santa Cruz River used to run, attracting people above and wildlife below.

“Just about every desert creature you can think of, you see down here,” Kmiec said.

It’s the sounds of this ecosystem that show the success of the project. Keeping track of the biodiversity here is part of researcher Michael Bogan’s job.

“This is basically how we collect it from the river,” Michael Bogan, assistant professor of aquatic ecology at the School of Natural Resources and the Environment at the University of Arizona, said.

“So we need to preserve them in ethanol and bring them back to the lab.”

Bogan said he noticed wildlife return right after the water was turned on.

“I immediately noticed dragonflies who had obviously flown in from some other water body somewhere in Tucson, golf course, pond, something like that. Flown in and not only had they found this brand new water that was only a few hours old, but they were already mating and laying eggs in the water. To me that was like seeing the birth of an ecosystem,” he said.

So his team, along with other groups, are keeping track of the species coming in.

“In most places because of either drought, climate change and drought that we’re in or because of human water withdrawals from dams or diversions, most places are drying up. So most of what we study is what happens when the water goes away. This is totally the opposite,” Bogan said.

“It’s a relatively small amount of water, yet it has a huge positive impact.”

Kmiec said the Santa Cruz River Heritage Project shows how to use water in a sustainable way to bring life back to the area for wildlife and for people.

“We see it as one of many. So we’re looking at other opportunities,” he said.

“We’ve done a lot of damage to the ecosystems so this is an example of trying to undo some of that damage,” Bogan said.

Keep an eye on the American River this time of year in Northern California. You might see a sea lion.

A viewer of sister station KCRA 3 viewer passed along a video she shot of a sea lion swimming upstream Monday just before 5 p.m.

Tara Stevens said she was out for a regular walk with her dog Claire and her husband when she saw the animal, which was a first for her.

"All of a sudden, I was like like, 'there's a sea lion out there,'" she said.

The sea lion did not appear injured, she said.

“I think he was fine, but was trudging through the water,” she said.

Watch the video above to see the sea lion.

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ROSSENREPORTS.COM. YOU CAN ALSO SIGN UP FOR MY NEWSLETTER. IT’S FREE AND BRINGS YOUR INFO. BACK TO YOU. MIKE: STARTED CHILLY THIS MORNING BUT ANOTHER PICTURE-PERFECT DAY. SHEREE: THE SUNSHINE MAKES ALL THE DIFFERENCE. KEVIN ROBINSON WITH HOW LONG IT WILL STICK AROUND. KEVIN: HOPEFULLY LONG ENOUGH TO GET THE OHIO RIVER BACK WITHIN ITS BANKS BECAUSE OFFICIALLY IT IS IN MINOR FLOOD. HERE’S A LIVE LOOK ACROSS THE OHIO RIVER, COVINGTON, THE NEWPORT THEATER. YOU CAN SEE THE WATER ALMOST BEGINNING TO ENTER THE PARKING AREAS DOWN FROM THE LEVY BASICALLY WITHIN THE WALLS OF THE LEVY, THE WALLS CONTINUING TO CREEP ITS WAY UP. 45 DEGREES AT THE AIRPORT. LOTS OF SUNSHINE. LOOK AT THE DEW POINT OF 14 WITH LIGHT WINDS TONIGHT. WE WILL BE IN FOR ANOTHER VERY COLD EVENING. RIGHT NOW, THE CURRENT OFFICIAL RIVER LEVEL AT 52.3 ONE FEET AND THE PUBLIC LANDING PRETTY MUCH FLOODED. THE RIVER GOING TO CONTINUE TO SLOWLY RISE FOR 54.5 FEET BY THURSDAY MORNING. THAT’S WHEN IT’S FORECAST TO CREST. IT WAS RISING QUICKLY THROUGH THE NIGHT LAST NIGHT. NOW WE ARE SEEING IT KIND OF LEVEL OFF AND THE RISE SLOWING AS IT APPROACHES ITS CREST. AROUND THE REGION TODAY, TEMPERATURES INTO THE MID-40’S. NOTICEABLY COOLER TODAY WITH NORTH WINDS TAKING OVER. THAT MEANS ANOTHER COOL NIGHT COMING UP. WE WILL SLIP INTO THE 30’S AFTER 7:00 AND WE SHOULD HAVE NO PROBLEM FALLING BELOW FREEZING PRETTY FAST AND GETTING TO THE MIDDLE AND UPPER 20’S FOR ANOTHER PRETTY COLD NIGHT. SKIES SHOULD REMAIN MOSTLY CLEAR WITH NO MAJOR WEATHER SYSTEMS FORECAST TO IMPACT THE OHIO RIVER VALLEY. IT IS PRETTY QUIET. FUTURECAST CONFIRMS MOSTLY CLEAR SKIES THROUGH THE NIGHT TONIGHT. TOMORROW IS STILL MY PICK OF THE WEEK. TEMPERATURES LIKELY TO MAKE A RUN AT 60 AFTER A PRETTY CHILLY START. THEN WE WILL HAVE ANOTHER ONE OF THOSE WEAK COOL FRONT SNEAKING ITS WAY IN HERE TOMORROW NIGHT AND THURSDAY AND THEN IT KNOCKS THE TEMPERATURES BACK DOWN THURSDAY AND MIGHT BRING US SOME MORE CLOUDS. WE GO UP TOMORROW AND DAN -- THEN DOWN 10 DEGREES THURSDAY, BUT STILL DRIVE. YOUR FORECAST FOR TONIGHT, CLEAR AND COLD AGAIN. 29 BY MORNING. TOMORROW, LOTS OF SUNSHINE. BREEZY AND MILDER. AFTERNOON HIGHS SOUTH OF 60. SHOULD BE A FANTASTIC DAY. 52 BY NOON. EXPECT A FAST WARM UP IN THE MORNING. HERE’S YOUR SEVEN-DAY FORECAST. THIS IS SOMETHING YOU DON’T SEE TOO OFTEN IN THE MONTH OF MARCH. SUNSHINE ACROSS THE BOARD FROM START TO F

Lots of sun Wednesday

Updated: 5:44 PM EST Mar 2, 2021

Lots of sun Wednesday.

CINCINNATI —

Lots of sun Wednesday.