Chesapeake Bay
Program
EPA
Rappahannock H.S.-Settle
4/15/2008
EPA
In 1985 the Chesapeake Bay watershed population was
13.5 million and in 2005 it had
grown to 16.6 million people. The population should
reach at least 20 million people by
2030. The Chesapeake Bay is a very important body of
water to the whole east coast. The
population grows by 130,000 people each year. It
provides economic opportunity up to $33
billion a year. 64,000 square miles of land drain into
the bay from PA, MD, VA, WVA, NY,
and DC. The watershed is estimated to be 34,367,599
acres.
Government is responsible for all of the people and
problems in the Chesapeake Bay.
The Chesapeake Bay watershed lost 750,000 acres of
forestland due to the growth in
housing and business between 1982 and 1997. Over the
next five to ten years 36% of all
forestland is at high risk of being lost due to
development. There is nearly 250,000 acres
or about 40% of the watershed became impervious land
between 1990 and 2000. Between
1970 and 2000 the average population per household
decreased but the lot sizes increased
by 60%; the average home size increased from 1,500
square feet to 2,265 square feet.
In order to correct these problems, the EPA and the
Chesapeake Bay Watershed
partners issued the following load objectives:
The Bay must lower its nitrogen discharge to
71.9 million pounds. The reduction goal
is 37.3 million pounds from 2002. The previous goal was
15.5 million pounds.
Phosphorus discharges cannot be more than 2.47
million pounds. The reduction goal
is 1.11 million pounds from the year 2002.
Sediment discharges cannot be more than .995
million tons. The reduction goal is
116,000 tons from the year 2002. This is the first
sediment goal that has been decided by
the Bay program partners.
The Chesapeake Bay watershed partners and the EPA
will not achieve load reduction
goal for land that has building or housing by 2010.
Nutrient and sediment loads increase at
faster rates than they can be decreased. Developed land
causes less than one third of the
Bay loads but need two thirds of the restoration cost.
The EPA and the Bay partners are
trying to upgrade wastewater facilities and have better
farming practices.
The government is worried about getting new development
ways so that they can reduce
the amount of discharges to the Bay. A set of
environmentally sensitive design methods and
those who support the use of the methods should be used
in this project. As we build
parking lots and septic systems we create more ways for
pollution to reach the Bay at a
faster rate. Impermeable surfaces don’t allow water to
soak into the ground. Instead,
water and pollutants run off into the Bay. All of these
things are problems and need to be
corrected as soon as possible.
Web Siteshttp://www.depweb.state.pa.us/chesapeake/lib/chesapeake/factsheets/3940-
fs-dep3117.doc
Ask a Thoughtful Question or Respond
Thoughtful
Questions
From:
SAVinators - CBP_Fed - MdSA
Ask
4/16/2008
What do you belive is the biggest obstacle to reaching
the goals of the amount of
nitrogen, sediment and phosporus discharge? And what
will you do to help make this goal?
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