Stop Poisoning Our Water

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

It is their home, their thriving place. According to the National WIldlife Federation, ¨The Bay supports 3,600 species of plant and animal life, including more than 300 fish species and 2,700 plant types.”. Not only does the wildlife depend on the bay, but humans do as well. The Chesapeake Bay contains a 64,000-square-mile watershed, this watershed provides large amounts of drinking water for us in Maryland, along with several other states. Everyday, the condition of the water declines, meaning the home for wildlife and our drinking water does too. The Chesapeake Bay Foundation pointed out that, ¨Toxic chemicals are constantly entering the Chesapeake Bay and its rivers and streams via wastewater, agriculture, stormwater, and air pollution. These harmful chemicals, such as mercury, PCBs, and PAHs, do not break down easily and persist in the environment for many years, impacting not just fish and birds, but humans as well.¨. How important does the restoration of the bay sound

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).

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.

In order to have a thriving and healthy society a clean water supply is a very simple but necessary resource. Dating back to the beginning of civilizations the need for clean water was an essential need. The Clean Water Act dates to Franklin D Roosevelt’s administration. In 1972 Congress amended and passed what is now known as the Clean Water Act to protect our precious resource of water. The clean water Act prevented the dumping of pollutants into navigable waters without a permit. Many municipalities and commercial entities had previously dumped sewage and unregulated waste in to our rivers and streams contaminating a great percentage of our drinking water. This wreck less contamination of our waterways not only affected humans but also affected our wildlife including fish and animal’s life that depended on these waters. Any municipality or company that could affect our waters would need to apply for a permit to do so. While the Clean Water Act was a landmark legislation that was supported by both Democrats and Republicans alike over the years has seen expansion of the EPA’s interpretation of the law and has created a controversy in Administrative Law that has many challenges up to the Unites States Supreme Court. (Television, n.d.)

Please briefly describe the different types of water pollution mentioned throughout the "Poisoned Waters" video. Fertilizers, Nitrogen and Phosphorous caused algae which poisoned the waters. It caused a dead zone. The farmers who own chickens was allowing the manure to pollute the water. The humans race is all responsible as we pollute our water by throwing garbage into it. Soap, household cleaning agents, toothpaste, and other plastic, lubricant and fuels are all poisoning our water.

The food chain of the Chesapeake Bay is very simple. It has fish, big fish depend on small fish. The small fish feed off of oysters or sometimes zooplankton. Oysters then feed off of many small zooplankton. Once, it gets down to what the zooplankton feed off of it is mostly algae or grass. Now, since there is a major decrease in the algae population, this

The Chesapeake Bay is the nation’s largest estuary with six major tributaries, the James, the Potomac, the Susquehanna, the Patuxent, the York, and the Rappahannock Rivers, feeding into the bay from various locations in Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and the District of Columbia (Chemical Contaminants in the Chesapeake Bay – Workshop Discussion 1). These areas depend on the Bay as both an environmental and an economic resource. Throughout the last 15 years the Chesapeake Bay has suffered from elevated levels of pollution. Nitrogen and phosphorous from wastewater treatment plants, farmland, air pollution, and development all lead to reduced water clarity and lowered oxygen levels, which harm fish, crabs, oysters and

Throughout the years, humans have definitely increased their capacity to innovate and improve. With the industrial revolution, humans could produce things at a much faster and efficient way. By increasing the amount of production, the environment has undergone a huge impact to support the various activities of humankind. One small example of this is the impacts on the Chesapeake Bay. There are various effects on the Bay all causes of human activity. To formulate a plan to restore the health of Chesapeake Bay, we must first understand which causes are impacting the health of the ecosystem and which measures can be taken to restore the Bay back to health.

Lastly, I will explain the dead zone of the chesapeake Bay. Excessive Nitrogen and Phosphrous pollution from human activities cause “Dead Zones” , which are areas with low amounts of oxygen. With little or no oxygen, fish, crabs, oysters, and other aquatic animals literally suffocate. Further excess in nutrients also fuels the growth of dense algae blooms that block sunlight that underwater grasses need to grow in order to continue providing food for waterfowl and shelter for blue crabs and juvenile fish. (Chesapeake Bay Foundation) (Dead Zones)

Did you ever wonder how things you do everyday effect the Chesapeake Bay watershed and Its tributaries? Well, It turns out to be not so good. One of the main causes for the Bay’s bad health are nutrients which are caused by excess nitrogen and phosphorus in the air and water. Plants and animals need nutrients to survive but when too many nutrients are in the water they fuel the growth of algae blooms and create conditions that are harmful for aquatic creatures.

The main rivers of the Chesapeake Bay is the Susquehanna, Potomac, James, Rappahannock, Chester, Nanticoke, Patuxent, and the Choptank rivers (Sprague et al 2000). The main rivers of the Chesapeake Bay watershed send about 51 billion gallons of freshwater into the Bay each day (Chesapeake Bay Program n.d.). These rivers are homes to many fish, amphibians, invertebrates, and other animals. Not only do aquatic animals live in these rivers, plenty of aquatic plants live there too (Chesapeake Bay Program n.d.). There are many factors that could affect the health of the Chesapeake Bay including litter, debris, sediment pollution, chemical contaminants, and any man made objects (Chesapeake Bay Program n.d.). Any litter and debris will work its way up to the Bay from the rivers and smother any grass beds along with bottom dwelling creators and add chemical contaminants to the water. Any excess nutrients that come from urban runoff or vehicle emissions will cause harmful algae to grow which blocks sunlight and does not allow plants to grow due to low oxygen dead zones

The bay has a history of eutrophication due in part on its water circulation pattern and vertical stratification, but also due to the enhanced loads of nitrogen and phosphorous flowing into the Chesapeake Bay originated by agricultural activities. With the problems of the Chesapeake Bay in mind, the Chesapeake Bay Program Agreement was signed in 1983 and in the implementation of the consequent management program. This program has been an attempt to improve the health of the Bay. However, due to the delay in the implementation and the increase in population, the results are not as significant as they should be, as it can be seen in the Chesapeake Bay Foundation report that show a very slow progress in the indicators (Pollution, habitat and fisheries) of the State of the Bay.

The one thing humans need on this planet to survive is water. If we need water to survive, then why are polluting it? Most of our nation’s waterways are in terrible condition because of the pollution in the water. Water pollution not only can cause illnesses, but also deaths for humans. Humans aren’t the only thing that water pollution causes harm to. It is also hurting our ecosystem. Humans are the leading cause of most water pollution. We keep throwing wastes into the water making the water unsafe for humans to drink. Scientists are coming up with ways for humans to decrease the amount of wastes they are putting in the water. We need to stop polluting the one thing that keeps us alive.

Poisoned Waters, the movie, touches upon many important things that are brought up when there is water pollution. In the movie, at the beginning, it shows how often many people are affected by the pollution. Many people lose their jobs due to the pollution not allowing them to fish for the amount of fish, oysters, or crabs that were available a mere 10 years ago. Billions of dollars are easily lost due to this decrease in production within the industry. The bay that was shown during the movie, Chesapeake Bay, is one of the largest estuaries in the United States. This bay is very susceptible to becoming a dead zone due to all the nitrogen and phosphorus is being brought into the bay from farming. A dead zone does not allow or oxygen to be produced due to all the algae that are present, and once an animal is in a trapped within a dead zone, it is only a matter of time. But this isn’t just a problem here in the United States, this is a problem that is happening all over the world. This issue presented further affects the economy on a local scale but on a global scale.