Chesapeake Bay clean-up: Pennsylvania lagging in reducing pollution
The federal Environmental Protection Agency issued a largely positive assessment Friday of efforts to stem the flow of nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment pollution into the Chesapeake Bay, the largest estuary in the United States.
Cutting those pollutants from farms, sewage treatment plants and municipal and suburban stormwater systems has been key to the recovery of the bay and the bounty of oysters, crabs and striped bass it produces.
“Collectively, the bay watershed jurisdictions have made considerable progress in reducing pollution to the bay and the local waters that lead to the bay,” the EPA said. “That progress has been demonstrated in measurable ways, including record acreage of underwater grasses and the highest estimates of water quality standards attained in more than 30 years.”
There was some rain on that parade, however. Looking at you, Pennsylvania.
Though the Keystone State has removed 17 waterbodies in the Susquehanna River watershed from the impaired waters listing for nutrients and/or sediment, the EPA said, the state is way off track in meeting goals to reduce agricultural and suburban and urban runoff.
Read more: https://www.virginiamercury.com/blog/chesapeake-bay-clean-up-pennsylvania-lagging-in-reducing-pollution/
The Chesapeake Bay watershed. Image from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
