Saving the Chesapeake Bay

With 534 miles of shoreline, a healthy Chesapeake Bay is crucial to the quality of life in Anne Arundel County.  Unfortunately, pollution has gotten so bad that dead zones incapable of supporting life cover more than 40% of the Bay during mid-summer, crab and oyster populations have been decimated, and some species of fish have become so full of toxins we’re warned not to eat them.  Read more…

Air pollution and urban/suburban runoff (water carrying pollutants that runs off our lands) are responsible for 40% of the nitrogen that is killing the Bay.  While there has been quite a bit of progress reducing the pollution from wastewater treatment plants and farms, little progress has been made on reducing air pollution and the pollution from urban/suburban runoff is actually increasing.   Restoring the Chesapeake to health is going to require strong governmental action combined with each of us doing our part to decrease the amount of pollution that runs off our lands.

What Government Needs to Do

Despite 27 years of promises, the health of the Bay continues to deteriorate.  We are now at a critical turning point.  As a result of missing the 2010 goals set a decade ago, the Environmental Protection Agency is moving from a consultative role to one of enforcement.  If the county or state continues to delay taking the difficult actions cleaning up the Bay requires, we risk losing federal funding as well as the ability to issue building permits, expand sewage capacity, and otherwise control our destiny.
 
Joanna has loved the Chesapeake Bay since childhood, and she is appalled at its decline.  Using her chemical engineering background, she plans to lead a group of experts in implementing the most cost-effective solutions to reducing the amount of pollution entering the Bay from our shores.  Options include:
 
Upgrading Septic Systems:  One serious problem is the nitrogen pollution leaching from aging septic systems. There are some tributaries such as the Severn River where as much as 30% of the nitrogen pollution is believed to come from this source.  Upgrading a standard septic system used by a family of four to an enhanced nutrient removal system will save about 136 pounds of nitrogen from polluting the Bay over the next 20 years.
 
Upgrading septic systems is such a critical component of cleaning up the Bay that the State of Maryland has agreed to pay the full costs to upgrade selected systems in addition to covering the first five years of these homeowners' maintenance expenses. Anne Arundel County received $2.6 million in funding from the Bay Restoration Fund in early 2007 for this program.  Unfortunately, County Executive Leopold decided that anyone applying to upgrade their septic should be required to commit to never increasing the size of their house.  As a result of this onerous requirement, almost no one applied.  Eventually the legislature forced the county to remove this requirement, but we'd lost precious time.  The county was forced to return a portion of the original funding to the state and already-approved upgrades were put on hold.  Meanwhile, the statewide funding available for septic upgrades dropped from $6 million in fiscal year 2009 to $2 million in 2010.  

In areas such as Edgewater Beach where there are many aging septics in a small vicinity, it may make sense to convert the entire community to city sewer, which provides much higher rates of nitrogen removal than even the most advanced septic systems.  There are 35 to 40 communities in Anne Arundel County that have failing septic systems.  The county should analyze which of these make sense to spend $3 to $5 million upgrading to sewer and then work with community leaders to gauge receptivity to such a move.  A long-term plan should be established that defines the priority order by which community upgrades should be undertaken and the design and permitting process begun. 
 

Stormwater Control Projects:  During the time of the 2006 campaign, stormwater control projects totallying $400 million were identified.  Then-candidate Leopold promised he would find funding from other sources to implement these projects.  Unfortunately, outside funding never materialized and Leopold included only $1.1 million in funding for these projects in the 2010 budget.  At this rate, it will take 400 years to fix the problems identified in 2006.

 
Funding:  Few people disagree with the need to move forward with these projects, but the challenge has always been finding the necessary funding.  There is hope that some federal funding for these projects will be provided if Senator Cardin's Chesapeake Clean Water and Ecosystem Restoration Act passes; however, any such funding is likely to require state and county matching funds. 

It is hoped that lean government efficiency programs combined with an improving economy can free up at least $10 to $20 million per year the county can invest in restoring the Bay.  We also need to look for other creative sources of funding.  One option is to make sure that developer spending on mitigation efforts delivers maximum benefits to the Bay.  It may also become necessary to reconsider a stormwater or impervious surface fee if we are not able to find sufficient funding for these necessary projects any other way.

What Each of Us Need to Do

The two types of pollution which are proving the hardest to reduce are primarily caused by individual actions. While there is a lot that government can do, we will not be successful restoring the Bay until each of us takes actions to reduce the amount we pollute.
 
Every single one of us can help save the Chesapeake Bay by taking simple steps such as using less fertilizer, planting trees, and driving less-polluting cars.  Please become a Bay Hero today and do your part to restore our beautiful Bay to health.