Chesapeake Bay Prevention Essay

The Chesapeake Bay is a 200-mile-long estuary extending from Norfolk, VA to Havre de grace Maryland. On average this bay contains about 68 trillion liters of water. This bay is the largest estuary in North America. It inhabits more than 3,000 species of plants, animals, and fish. “Since the early twentieth century, the Chesapeake Bay has experienced serious environmental degradation. Problems include large reductions in sea grass, reduced amounts of finfish and shellfish (especially oysters and crab), seasonal depletions in dissolved oxygen, and increases in sedimentation.” (Atkins & Anderson, 2003) These changes are brought on by pollution (Eutrophication and Toxic Contamination), development, deforestation, and agriculture. And according

Farms, and cities are the most responsible for the pollution affecting the bay. And with no surprise, farmers, home builders, and chemical companies fight against the restoration idea every day. According to Moyers & Company, ¨The top three spenders — the American Farm Bureau, Fertilizer Institute and the National Association of Home Builders — gave over $4 million to national-level politicians and spent over $18.5 million on lobbying¨. Even the President of the place we live in, Donald Trump, proposed a budget that would completely eliminate the federal funding for the cleanup of the bay. Okay, so, let me get this straight, you don't want clean water? Or care about the thousands of life forms currently residing in the Chesapeake? Without this funding, the restoration process would come to an end, and the restoration could not be possible. Put your money where your mouth is! (Drinking clean water and possibly eating fish, or other seafood).

In the early America colonies, each colony was largely settled by people of English origin. Although the majority of the colony founders were generally from similar areas, the colonies were all different. Two regions like this were the New England region and the Chesapeake region. New England consisted of the states Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. Chesapeake consisted of Virginia and Maryland. Although the regions were very close to each other on a map, by the 1700’s both regions had evolved into two very distinct societies. This was due to the colonists reasons fro coming to the New World, their belief systems, the colonists themselves, and the geography.

Scientists and researchers began giving a large volume of effort and look into the extremely complex problems that face the Chesapeake Bay. When research for the improving and saving of the Bay’s overall health began it seemed very simple and there were only a couple of problems. The problems included nutrients from agricultural runoff; these nutrients were phosphorus and nitrogen. The combination of the nutrients in the Bay caused a large volume of algae that choked some of the marine life. While bringing in algae the nutrients also killed grasses on the seafloor. These seafloor bed grasses that once covered more than half of the Chesapeake Bay’s floor now only covered a tenth of their original area. Though the estuary was having problems it did not receive the terrible pollution from industries that many large rivers and lakes do in other urban areas (Brown, p. 397).

The immigrants that settled the colonies of Chesapeake Bay and New England came to the New World for two different reasons. These differences were noticeable in social structure, economic outlook, and religious background. As the colonies were organized the differences were becoming more and more obvious and affected the way the communities prospered. These differences are evident from both written documents from the colonists and the historical knowledge of this particular period in time.

Types of human activity that affect the Bay's health. Humans either do not see or do not care about the pollution they send into the water. As humans build more factories close to the water or send more waste out of their homes it goes into the Bay causing many problems for the ecosystem. "waste from people's homes, stores, and offices is also treated and discharged into the Bay and its rivers. " (Chesapeake Bay Ecosystem) People do not understand the effects of pollution the Chesapeake Bay Ecosystem says that people believe the water where the pollution is going will dilute the pollution and won’t be as bad. Humans do no understand the problems pollution will cause. The population of the Blue Crabs in the Bay was below average for over 10 years. From 1998 until 2009 the crab ecosystem was so unhealthy they were unable to live and reproduce.

The Chesapeake Bay, which derives from the Algonquin word Chesepiooc meaning “great shellfish bay”, has been around for a very long time. Approximately 35 million years ago, a rare bolide (a comet- or asteroid-like object) hit what is now the lower tip of the Delmarva Peninsula, creating a 55-mile-wide crater. The bolide created what geologists call the “Exmore Crater,” which they believe was as large as Rhode Island and as deep as the Grand Canyon. Although this bolide did not create the Chesapeake Bay, it helped determine that a bay would eventually be located there.

The importance of the Chesapeake Bay is introduced. The bay is home to a large amount of seafood businesses, and many people fish the bay and its tributaries for sport. Grass beds are essential to many of the organisms living in this ecosystem, but are being destroyed by pollution. Agriculture involves more than a fourth of the bay's watershed. This makes agricultural runoff a big focus. Excessive nitrogen and phosphorus causes eutrophication. These nutrients come from pesticides and sewage also. A goal was set in 1985 to cut back the percent of nutrients being put into the bay by these two sources. It is thought that redirecting the flow of soil with nutrients in them will reduce the runoff, but if the nutrients seep into groundwater they still get into the Chesapeake Bay. Farmers have ways to help reduce these nutrient levels, but it is not the cheapest way to farm, so not all farmers are doing their part to save the bay. Another contributor of runoff land development. Runoff can occur from exposed land being prepared to be developed, or because of what has been used to replace what used to naturally be.

Although the Chesapeake Bay Colonies and New England colonies were both founded by men of English origin, during similar an era, they gradually developed very different societies. The Chesapeake Bay Colonies were fabricated originally for the sole purpose of amassing financial profit through the collection and trading of gold. New England Colonies, however, were made to develop the Separatist Church. Colonists belonging to these colonies left England during the Protestant Reformation of the English Church to escape the persecution of King James I. After further analysis of the documents provided (A-H) it becomes evident why the New England Colonies and Chesapeake Bay Colonies eventually evolved into two very different regions exhibiting different

The differentiation which developed from the New England and the Chesapeake region was due to the factors of their ambitions or motives, environment and wealth. These factors promoted diversity between the two colonies settled in these regions allowing different outcomes and pathways later on history from colonies in those regions; they were the framework of what to come. Document A states “... some must be rich, some poor, some high and eminent in power and dignity, other mean and in subjection. . .. [Yet] We must be knit together in this work as one man. We must entertain each other in brotherly affection, we must be willing to abridge ourselves of our superfluities, for the supply of others' necessities”.

     The Long Island Sound is a vital resource used by both humans and wildlife. The quality of its water is an issue that affects everyone and everything. Scientific studies and continuous monitoring provide evidence as to what actions need to be taken to improve and restore the water quality. In more ways than one, the United States government has devoted much of its time to ensure the revival and protection of the Long Island Sound.

New England and Chesapeake Bay were both developing in the new world, and their beliefs, and work ethic would soon lead them to become drastically different, one may even say they became polar opposite. The New Englanders were largely Puritan Separatists who came in large families, who sought religious freedom and were rather intolerant towards anyone else. Chesapeake Bay was largely popularized by indentured servants and young men. During this time, both colonies were in the process of defining themselves. New England was in the midst of forming close communities and became very religion based, while Chesapeake Bay was struggling to form a village. While New England believed that it was God's will that they build their life in the new world, Chesapeake Bay began to struggle due to their incapability to work. Unlike New England, Chesapeake would begin to attempt to stay alive with lack of food, and community. The two colonies beliefs and effort to build a new life in a new world would

Due to the large bodies of water in the county, there is a high risk for drowning. Water quality pollutants in the county come from fertilizers, bacteria from animal feces, sediment from land that are being cleared and stream channel erosion. When the rain falls into farms, parking lots, construction sites, and lawns the water collects pollutants and they get carried to the stream and then eventually end up in the Chesapeake Bay. In 2010 10 out of 15 streams sampled were rated far to poor, E-Coli, dissolved oxygen, fecal coliform, Chlorophyll-A and Polychlorinated Biphenyls were noted in the samples (2013 Natural Resource Indicator Report, 2014). C & R Battery Company Inc. and the Defense General Supply Center DLA were found on the national priority list for the most hazardous waste sites identified by the Environment Protection Agency because it is a risk to human and/or the environment (Virginia Superfund Sites, 2013).

The bay has fifty major rivers and streams that drift into it. Nitrogen and Phosphorous are rapidly getting released into the bay. Most of the Nitrogen and Phosphorous comes from agriculture, air, and sewage. The excessive nitrogen and Phosphorus degrade the bay's water quality. Each year roughly three hundred pounds of polluting nitrogen gets into the Chesapeake Bay. Just like the Everglades the Chesapeake's water is in danger.

By the 1700’s, New England, the Chesapeake region and the Southern Colonies developed into three distinct societies, despite coming from the same mother country, England. The regions of Colonial America each had a distinctive culture and economy entirely different from the other regions. Religion and religious tolerance was completely different in each region, running from being free to complete persecution. Ethnicity and racial composition ranged from almost complete British descent to a wide range of composition. Each region was politically and economically structured different and had its own identity. Each developed differently based on immigration trends, geography and other features. Throughout the colonization of Colonial America,