The Potomac Highlands Watershed School 

Stream Cleaner Environmental Forum 2008

Points of View & Thoughtful Questions - Chesapeake Bay Program

 

Chesapeake Bay Program POV & TQ Navigation

 Big Mighty govern   "PRO" Public Relations Officer   SAVinators   EPA

 

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Comments for All Chesapeake Bay Program

 

 

Chesapeake Bay Program

Big Mighty govern                                                                           James Wood H.S.-Fordyce

                                                                                                                                 4/8/2008

  Hello my name is the big and mighty government and I’m important to the Chesapeake Bay

watershed because by being in the government everyone’s been looking at us to try to come

 up with a solution to help the bay by getting people to help us by planting trees and buffer

grass all round the bay. People need to get there septic tanks checked regular as wells as

there drain fields. By doing so it will keep raw sewage out of the bay. The bay doesn’t just

affect you it affects the whole community. If there is a bay that is polluted tourist are not

 going to want to come to the bay and our communities’ economy is shot no one will want to

come and spend money or live here. It affects people’s lives as well as the livelihoods. Like

if all the fish die then what are the fishers that are out of work going to do. As the

government and being in charge of tax’s I suggest that we have a town meeting and talk

about raising tax’s so we can afford all the trees and grass seed. As well as how to fix the

problem. If the bay were clean more tourists would come to our town and spend money

which would mean more money in everyone’s pockets and then the town will want to keep

the bay clean and we could lower the taxes then.

 

 

 

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Thoughtful Questions

  From:   Home Jackets - homeowner - MHS                                              Ask

                                                                                            4/11/2008

     Well the people are right, the government need's to plant tree's and buffer grass

     that's what the government need's to do.

 

  From:   LG8 - local_gov - JWHS(F)                                                                      Statement

                                                                                                                         4/14/2008

            i like it

  From:   awesomley amazing super spectacular envoirnmentalist - Other -          Ask

                                                                                                                         4/21/2008

     what happens when you spend all this money cleaning up the bay and people still dont

            come to your town. then the taxes will go up even more.

  From:   Redneck Story - Waterman - JWHS(F)                                                  Statement

                                                                                                                         4/22/2008

     Hey maybe you should think more about the fisherman the government should go do

     something to help this out

 

 

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Chesapeake Bay Program

"PRO" Public Relations Officer                                                                    Keyser H.S.-Kurtz

                                                                                                                                 4/9/2008

My name is “Willy Blaze” and Chesapeake Bay conservation is my game. My job title is

“PRO” (Public Relations Officer) my job consists of presenting the impacts of human

presence in the Chesapeake Bay area and presenting that information to the public. I also

am responsible in organizing community projects that help clean up the bay and establishing

 web sites to inform public of the bays situation. I see the bay everyday from my house

and I can see it deteriorate more and more everyday. I personally want my children to

experience the bay as I did as a child. I have made it my duty to inform the public of the

destruction of the bay. If u wish to help save the bay please see me and sign up Earth Day

2008 and adopt a water project today.

EVEN YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE!!

 

 

 

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Thoughtful Questions

  From:   Bojangles - farmer - JWHS(T)                                                                Statement

                                                                                                                         4/15/2008

     clever

 

 

 

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Chesapeake Bay Program

SAVinators                                                                                   Mount de Sales Acad.-Sargo

                                                                                                                               4/14/2008

We are the SAVinators, saving the bay. We work to help restore and protect the

Chesapeake Bay and the natural resources that it supplies us. Pollution, point and non point,

are our main focus. 48% of our program’s efforts are focused on the already polluted

portion of the Bay which we diligently work to restore. Our other efforts concentrate on

preventing pollution in the future. Though we have made huge improvements thus far, our

program still faces many obstacles. We are a non-profit organization which runs off

government funding. Acquiring enough funds to reach our goal is our main obstacle. Kind

donations and adding “flush fees” to water bills help with this issue, but it is still a major

problem. Another issue is obtaining the cooperation of local residents. Pollution from farms

and local homes are a main source of pollution and a large hindrance to our ultimate goal.

If we don’t reach our deadline in 2010 to remove the Bay from the EPA’s list of  “impaired

waters”, our funding will be cut and our program will shut down. With this incentive we

strive to work up to pace doing things such as invasive plant removal, native plant sales and

adding buffers. Our original deadline of 2010 quite obviously will not be met, but we still

hope to meet our goals in the not so distant future.

     http://www.dailypress.com/news/local/dp-local_bay_0318mar18,0,3612544.story

     http://www.chesapeakebay.net/content/publications/cbp_26038.pdf

 

 

 

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Thoughtful Questions

  From:   SAVinators - CBP_Fed - MdSA                                                               Ask

                                                                                                                         4/16/2008

          I was wondering are your plans only to inform if not what actions are you planning to

      do to help with the Bay clean-up? You said you were going to organize community

     projects so do you have any examples of what these projects might be and how they will

      be funded?     Could you tell me a little more about these water projects?  I admire

     your cause - we should all do what we can to return the Bay to its former glory - but we

      need to make the public more aware of what they can do on a personal level. Making

     small tweaks to people's home lives, one household at a time, can make a big difference

     in the long run. Domestic as well as large-scale projects are equally important in

     restoring our Bay.

 

 

 

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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

 

 

 

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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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Chesapeake Bay Program

 

 

 

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