Support existing clean-water programs and the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act, which help to enhance water quality in local streams and the Bay. Four general sources push chemical contaminants into the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries: Air pollution emitted by factories, power plants, cars, trucks, gas-powered lawn tools and other sources, Agricultural runoff, Stormwater runoff, and; Wastewater discharged from industrial facilities and wastewater treatment plants into rivers and streams. This map represents a complete, aggregated layer of protected lands in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed and intersecting Counties as of 2011. (Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post) A prominent victim of smothering algal blooms is the Chesapeake Bay. But lately some glimmers of hope have begun to emerge amidst the polluted streams, dead zones, fish kills, and algae blooms. Develop and implement Virginia's next Watershed Implementation Plan, which describes how Virginia will reduce pollution from all major sources between now and the 2025 deadline. Chesapeake Bay. Develop and implement Virginia's next Watershed Implementation Plan, which describes how Virginia will reduce pollution from all major sources between now and the 2025 deadline. Well over half of the Chesapeake Bay still is polluted, but experts say water quality has improved significantly — and, in fact, is now the best they’ve ever measured. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the agriculture sector represents one of the most significant sources of water pollution in the U.S. and the EPA has cited nutrient pollution as one of the country’s most problematic environmental issues. Polluted Runoff: How Investing in Runoff Pollution Control Systems Improves the Chesapeake Bay Region's Ecology, Economy, and Health details the problems created by suburban and urban runoff pollution. Back in 2010, Virginia submitted a bay cleanup plan to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that promised that the commonwealth, by 2025, would protect 95 percent of streams running through farms by fencing cattle out of waterways. Urban and suburban stormwater runoff is one of the only major sources of pollution that is growing in the Chesapeake Bay and its rivers and streams. Waters at Risk Pollution in the Susquehanna Watershed—Sources and Solutions CHESAPEAKE BAY FOUNDATION How Farms Affect the Chesapeake Bay’s Water People who track water quality issues in the Chesapeake Bay are accustomed to bad news. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the agriculture sector represents one of the most significant sources of water pollution in the U.S. and the EPA has cited nutrient pollution as one of the country’s most problematic environmental issues. Download file to see previous pages The Chesapeake Bay is one of the initially beautiful regions and that have succumbed to the unbearable effects of environmental pollution.
Deidra Floyd/CBF Staff. Air quality study over Chesapeake Bay seeks to understand pollution Dune grasses line the shore of the Chesapeake Bay in Anne Arundel County in 2013. Learn about many of the complex problems facing the Chesapeake Bay: from the excess nutrients and sediment that pollute our waters, to the invasive species that crowd out native plants and animals, to a changing climate that is already affecting our land, air and water. A prominent victim of smothering algal blooms is the Chesapeake Bay. The Susquehanna River delivers half the fresh water in the Chesapeake Bay and about 40 percent of the nitrogen pollution, 20 percent of the phosphorus pollution1, and a heavy load of the sediment pollution.
It is a combination of multiple State, Federal and Non-Governmental Organization sources. This is a problem, because farm runoff – as a category — is the largest single source of pollution in the Chesapeake Bay. The bay watershed includes 166,000 square kilometers of mixed land uses, multiple nutrient sources, and variable hydrogeologic, soil, and weather conditions, and bay restoration is complicated by the multitude of nutrient sources and complex interacting factors affecting the occurrence, fate, and transport of nitrogen and phosphorus from source areas to streams and the estuary. Support existing clean-water programs and the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act, which help to enhance water quality in local streams and the Bay. Other sources of pollution include runoffs in the roadway, development, septic systems, air deposition from factories and fertilizers produced and utilized by both commercial and residential units (Chesapeake Bay Foundation, 2008).
Urban and suburban stormwater runoff is one of the only major sources of pollution that is growing in the Chesapeake Bay and its rivers and streams. And it offers steps that local, state, and federal governments can take to reduce pollution and achieve clean water for local streams, rivers, and the Chesapeake Bay. In the revelation of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF), Chesapeake Bay was considered among the healthiest regions in the world during the early 1600s.