Chesapeake Bay
Making Conservation Pay
(Posted by Bob Parks)
Many on the Western Shore of Maryland assume that the Eastern Shore is all chicken houses, but of course that’s not the case. The Upper Eastern Shore is, in fact, primarily grain farming. The Clean Water Act, however, does not regulate grain farming. Simply put, grain farming is the ultimate nonpoint source of nitrogen and phosphorus. You cannot identify (or regulate) the farmer whose field is sending nitrogen into the ground water that ends up in the rivers and the Bay.
Read MoreAgriculture: No. 1 Bay Polluter
(Posted by Gerald Winegrad.)
After 27 years of formal recovery efforts under the Bay Program, the Chesapeake Bay remains severely degraded and bay recovery is failing. About 90 percent of Bay waters remain impaired in clear violation of the Clean Water Act with collapsed fisheries, including oysters and shad. We have so poisoned our waters that reports abound of serious infections in humans who come in contact with Bay waters. Catfish in the South River have cancerous lesions and male bass from the Potomac are turning up with female egg sacs.
Read MoreWho’s Watching the Watchers?
Posted by Fred Tutman.
Last week I had the edgy and unwelcome task of informing an elderly resident in Gambrills that our testing of her well water revealed huge amounts of Thallium, Barium and Aluminum. This was most likely caused by a nearby former coal waste disposal site. This gentle soul whom I suspect has lived in the same home and consumed the water there for her entire life, has lately been living with cases of bottled water sitting on her porch provided courtesy of some energy company.
But she still does not have justice.
Read MoreComparing Two Icons: Chesapeake Bay and the Great Barrier Reef
Posted by Bill Dennison.
The Integration and Application Network has been working with various groups in Queensland, Australia to produce an environmental report card for the Great Barrier Reef, modeled in some ways after the Chesapeake Bay report card. Comparisons between the two large ecosystems can be made and these comparisons can provide insight into both Chesapeake Bay and the Great Barrier Reef.