Chesapeake Bay water quality reaches near-record high
 

Some decent news regarding the bay's "health."


http://www.somdnews.com/recorder/spo...431e22833.html

I think this is great news. Without a doubt the co-operation of the farmers surrounding the bay and improving sewage treatment plants has benefitted the good numbers. Mother nature assisted this year by not flooding the bay with mud all the way south to Bloody Point (as seen in the past); and the spring winds kept the bay churned up, providing reduced "dead zones".

While I agree we need to continue on our course of action, I hope the article is not a precourser to Md Dept of Environment crying about federal funding being reduced.
I certainly want to see the bay keep improving, but I believe it's a matter for the States surrounding the bay to address. Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and even New York are part of the Bays sources of contamination and sediment. These are the States that need to step-up and address the issue.

Why should the taxes from someone in Washington State be used to clean up our bay? Why should my taxes be used to clean up the Flint Michigan water supply? And, who decides who's "crisis" is more worthy?

We need to hold our local legislators "feet to the fire" to make the bay clean-up a priority. I would like to know the amount of federal money that has been "pissed away" by Foundations and local government contracts. I bet the numbers would be astounding!!

Heck, we can't even get a favorable ruling on Menhaden because the industry has the Virginia legislature in their back pocket. I don't want to see the industry eliminated, but to see the allocations rise and fall on the whim of legislators and lobbyists that know NOTHING about the bay is frustrating.

Lets hope that Mother Nature doesn't set us back with a single large storm (as she has done before). And, lets eliminate the sewage discharges associated with even smaller rainfalls:eek: We should never see headlines in local newspapers saying to refrain from using the waterway for three days after a summer rain:eek:

This is not a negative post:D Lets be encouraging everyone to use our bay in a responsible manner.
5th

Guess you can tell; it's the first day of winter:D:D
5th

The shortest day of the year at least.......that would suck if the shortest day were in the summer. :eek:

I agree with most of what you said but I'll take it a bit further and harp on personal accountability a bit. We should all consider, when possible, reducing fertilizers on our lawns, pesticides around our properties and avoid cutting down trees without some thought to reforestation. Water runoff might seem like it would have minimal impact from a small residential property, but it's the aggregate total of ALL properties that causes problems. Huge amounts of heated summer rainwater cause nasty algae blooms. Large volumes of runoff stir up sediment. Plants and trees slow the runoff.

I love that my old community of Cape St Claire is very friendly to these issues, but one of the biggest hurdles there is the 80 stall paved parking lot on a semi steep hill that leads down to the boat ramp. After a solid summer rain storm you can see the steaming water pouring into Deep Creek. Ugh. Last I heard they were looking into a special drainage system across the lot to divert the water over rocks in a culvert adjacent to the paring lot. Hopefully that project happens.