Only YOU can save the bay...

[Ron20324]

Page six of today's Annapolis paper has an article that says you should do this to help save the Chesapeake Bay. Each title has a paragraph or two to describe. :
"Get involved; Bend a politicians's ear; Get educated; Hold your water; Fight global warming; Explore your watershed; Upgrade your septic system; Know your contribution to bay pollution. Hold polluters accountable."

Then an editorial on page 10 says "22 MILLION gallons of diluted sewage dumped into the Patapsco River" (connects Baltimore to the Bay). At least it was DILUTED.

Of course, YOU can help by not pumping overboard:naughty:

 

[MoonSailer]

Looking at the number of toilets/farms/feedlots that go into the bay I doubt that boaters have a lot of effect. Septic tanks in sandy soil close to the shore is about the same as dumping overboard. Point sources such as combined storm water sanitary sewers and feedlots would be a great place to start. Not using fertilizer on your lawn and picking up after your dog would help. But with so many people dumping into the bay I am not optimistic.

 

[Don S/V ILLusion]

Ron
I assume you are not suggesting the old argument -"everybody else is doing it so I might as well too" ?

 

[Warren Milberg]

I've been sailing on the Chesapeake for over 30 years. I used to swim in it, but now I dread the thought of getting any of it on me. While the EPA has developed comprehensive guidelines for cleaning up the Bay, it is clear to me that the federal government, and the surrounding states of Virginia and Maryland, are not serioius about significant improvement. When it comes to development vs the environment, all one needs to do is look overboard to see the answer floating by....

 

[Witzend]

About 3 years ago I was involved with a waterfront town home development project in Colonial Beach, VA. The developers had cleared some trees that had be knocked down as a result of Isabel, withing the 100' Riparian buffer as allowed by the town. Well, the neighbors that opposed the project got Chesapeake Bay Foundation involved. I don't want to bore you hear, but they were concerned with every plant species within this buffer being returned back to the Riparian standards, yet when we pointed out that "every time it rains the town yard overflows and sewage runs right into the bay through that pipe there", they looked the other way, "that not why we are here".
Also, there are literally hundreds of miles of naturally eroding clifs around the bay, and there concern was with a ballence of plant species so there would be no erosion from out project.
The bottom line is, politics is playing a big role in not fixing the real sources of pollution.

 

[Ron20324]

Ron
I assume you are not suggesting the old argument -"everybody else is doing it so I might as well too" ?

Not in the least. But I think the "physician heal thyself" would apply to big brother badgering us about potty pumping but not taking care of their own millions of gallons of poop. Of course these massive dumps happen multiple times a year. I think that those who pump out while anchored in some nice creek are creating more of a problem the relates to me, personally, than the big dumps. Dirty water does not flush out of the headwaters as much as it does in rivers and the bay.

 

[rpwillia]

Pollution Sources

As I understand it the leading causes of pollution in the Chesapeake Bay and Potomac are:

http://www.chesapeakebay.net/nutrients.aspx?menuitem=14690

1. Wastewater treatment plants contribute the majority of nutrients that enter the Bay through specific, identifiable entry pipes. Wastewater plants release treated water — often still containing large amounts of nutrients — into local streams and rivers, which eventually flow to the Bay.

2. Nutrients that run off the land — including farmland and urban and suburban areas — come from a number of sources, including fertilizers, septic systems, boat discharges and farm animal manure.

3. Air pollution from vehicles, industries, gas-powered lawn tools and other emitting sources contribute nearly one-third of the total nitrogen load to the Chesapeake's waterways. Airborne nitrogen is contributed to the Bay region from an enormous 570,000-square-mile airshed that stretches north to Canada, west to Ohio and south to South Carolina.

Biggest thing we ever hear about is the thousands of boats who are running around dumping stuff into the river. Visit Alexandria, VA or National Harbor and enjoy the smell wafting across the river from the DC Blue Plains Treatment Plant. As I understand it, during every rain storm Blue Plains dumps hundreds of thousand to millions of gallons into the Potomac that go into the Bay.

Although I have been called full of it, even I can't produce enough to compete with that.

 

[Don S/V ILLusion]

Not in the least. But I think the "physician heal thyself" would apply to big brother badgering us about potty pumping but not taking care of their own millions of gallons of poop. Of course these massive dumps happen multiple times a year. I think that those who pump out while anchored in some nice creek are creating more of a problem the relates to me, personally, than the big dumps. Dirty water does not flush out of the headwaters as much as it does in rivers and the bay.

I often feel similarly Ron until I realize who the real enemy is - it isn't "big bro", the "government", "politicians" or "politics". It's us!
By that I mean that us taxpayers who would will foot the bill to upgrade all the cso (combined sewer overflows) of the world aren't willing ( or able) to pay the massive tax increase required. Politicians aren't stupid and will never propose such a plan without enormous grass-roots support which will never happen as you see from some of the other comments here.
We aren't willing to forgo fertilizing our lawns, pay to hook up the existing sewers when leach fields are free, drive around in gas-guzzlers, etc.
It seems pretty ironic to me that so many misplace the blame for why our water, air, land is still somewhat polluted while also dumping their holding tanks.

 

[KD3PC]

be careful to not confuse the Chesapeake Bay Foundation with the Chesapeake Bay Protection Act, although there is a Foundation member on the Bay Act Board...

The bay act set up the 100' buffer and yes they have some ridiculous, IMHO, requirements...they are set by the state, city and counties....not the CBF...

Bay Act in Northumberland County, VA wanted to know why I was pulling creosoted poles out of the water, after the last hurricane came through my yard and pier...I was disturbing the soil...and cutting down "old growth forest"....I told the lady that I could just push them back in the water....

and that "old growth" forest are not scrub pines broken off or uprooted by wind and water...and that when I was a kid this same yard was lawn...a mere 25 years ago...

Strictly politics...even the bay act allows "vista" but the county zoning supervisor decides what "vista" is...and he would not allow us to cut, move or top trees...to get a "vista"..

Little to no common sense has been applied to either the protection act or the latest Obama Executive order or the EPA proposal of last month. Neither have deadlines, metrics, goals or penalties....same crap different day...

I am constantly preaching to clean things up, but there is always some group more important than clean water...and it is not just the $$$ that stand in the way.

dave
doing his part every day to clean up the Bay...

 

[MoonSailer]

I agree, "we are the problem". It is so much easier to blame others. FWIW I have never dumped my crap overboard. Sometimes a pumpout is a real PITA. But I have never pumped overboard mostly because it is disgusting and partly because it is illegal.
Stupid laws and regulations are what governments do when they don't want to address the real problems but want to look like they are doing something. It costs the government virtually nothing to pass laws. It does cost real money to separate storm sewers from sanitary sewers. Even a large holding pond to catch overflows seem like too much of a cost for the government. But passing a law..that is easy. http://www.wilmingtoncso.com/pages/CSO_Tour1.htm

According to the pie chart most pollution comes from agricultural runoff. Some clever people should be able to figure out how to clean it up without putting farmers broke.

 

[Ross]

The simplistic answer to the bay's problem is that humans have over populated their habitat. They have over grazed the food resources and are sustained only by importing food. The solution is not operable. We need a major plague that kills about 2/3rds of the Atlantic water shed population.

 

[Don S/V ILLusion]

I agree, "we are the problem". ...
Stupid laws and regulations are what governments do when they don't want to address the real problems but want to look like they are doing something. It costs the government virtually nothing to pass laws....."

Every Executive Agency must develop a corresponding economic impact analysis for each proposed regulation and it is typically that, the economic impact analysis, which receives the most public scrutiny. Consequently, the final regs are often much watered-down versions of anything substantive. Guess who is responsible for influencing the final outcome - the Exec Agency or the public? If you guessed the latter, you are correct and if you include our esteemed Congressional and Senate reps in the more influencial "public" comments, you are equally correct.

It ain't the gov which makes the regs stupid, it's ________________ (fill in the blank).

 

[Shooter II]

Remember, it takes no guts to propose tax cuts, only tax increases.
The gov't is us. We are the polluters, no one else. The bay is large and open and fed by millions of people from many states. The only way to clean it is to do everything necessary. Those who are trying to keep the greenery at the water's edge are not empowered to stop Blue Plains treatment plant from dumping. Btw, the Potomac below Blue Plains is better now than at any time in the last 50 years. The Potomac is one of the top 5 large mouth bass rivers in the US. The bay, on the other hand, is mainly fed by the Susquehanna. Baltimore and the attendant shipping do a lot to pollute. All my neighbors, with their lawn services, the farmers who fail to control their manure and me with my car, are polluting the bay. We have been failing to reduce the pollution to a level that nature can mitigate on its own. We need to find a way to remediate the damage to the bay that is effective enough that it won't be overwhelmed by the demands in the watershed that extends from Cooperstown, NY to Norfolk, Va.. From Havre de Grace to Point Lookout, she's Maryland's and we don't need anyone other than Marylanders to resolve the matter. Let's not wait for Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, DC, the Fed. We need creativity and resolve but we can do it. Let's resolve to do so this year. It starts with us. Adopt a creek. Adopt a river. Adopt a stream. Let's clean the water in the bay. Make it happen this year.
Moonsailer, Willmington, DE is in the Delaware Bay watershed but the pressures are the same.

 

[kloudie1]

come on guys !! Get the filters going again !!!! I mean the oysters !! every time I visit my buddiy and his wife up by Annapolis, I help clean up the little growing critters that he raises and gives back to the foundation (?) so that the oysters can be put into the reefs and beds to get some re-population going.. They love ... uuuuuhhhhh.. organic particulate matter..

 

[MoonSailer]

For the most part actual crap does not reach the bay. It is the nitrogen and phosphorus from crap and urine that feeds algea etc that reaches the bay. When these die and sink to the bottom they are eaten by bacteria that consume all of the oxygen. Oysters need oxygen to live. Sewage treatment plants use bacteria to capture nutrients and then the bacteria are removed from the water and buried ,burned or composted. This is good fertilizer and could be sent to the midwest for crops. Transportation costs could be high. Nitrogen can be converted into N2 by bacteria. Maybe someone could develope some sort of ion exchange system to remove phosphorus directly from water. It is a solvable problem but costs money.

 

[Shooter II]

this from wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susquehanna_River
The environmental group American Rivers named the Susquehanna "America's Most Endangered River for 2005" due to the excessive pollution it receives. Most of the pollution in the river is due to excess animal manure from farming, agricultural runoff, urban and suburban stormwater runoff, and raw or inadequately treated sewage. In 2003 the river alone contributed 44% of the nitrogen, 21% of the phosphorus, and 21% of the sediment flowing into the Chesapeake Bay. Pennsylvania may be subject to EPA sanctions if it does not reduce its pollution in the watershed by 2010.[3] It was designated as one of the American Heritage Rivers in 1997.[4] The designation provides for technical assistance from federal agencies to state and local governments working in the Susquehanna watershed
But no matter, the bay is ours after that.
I don't think we can grow enough bivalves fast enough to do the job.

 

[Stu Jackson]

OK, OK, choices have to be made. Choices and priorities. But cars aren't going to go away tomorrow. Horse, cows and lawns, ditto. Can't stop it from raining, at least not yet.

BUT, we CAN stop the sewage treatment plants from continuing to discharge their pollutants. That's doable. Requires work on citizen's parts to get their congress critters to understand.

Ya know, as much as all that $$ was given back to the wealthy during the past eight years, we're still all paying taxes, right? Those tax dollars should be used for something worthwhile.

Seems this issue should be tops on any list. Right after doing a "Stop Picking on Us Boaters."

They built the STPs to stop the pollution engendered by direct waste into bays & rivers. Now all they're doing is holding it until it rains. Lotta OUR $$ for holding tank "plants."

 

[Ross]

From an historical perspective we are doing very well. In the decade 1890 to 1900 there was great concern about the amount of horse manure on the streets of NYC. Farmers that delivered food to the city markets were obliged to carry horse manure out in the same wagons the delivered the food. Slaughter houses dumped all of their waste into the rivers and dead animals were routinely dumped into the rivers. In Boston all of the sewers ran down hill to Boston harbor and dumped without any treatment into the harbor. Within the lifetime of many of us the Cuyahoga river caught fire and burned in 1969. When I moved to the Chesapeake bay area in 1967 they had started work on banning phosphate in laundry detergent. That effort succeeded! During the 1970,s There was a major lawsuit involving the release of the insecticide Kepone into the James river. Kepone persists in the environment. During the 1968-69 years you could wade the tidal flats and collect enough oysters for a family meal. The oysters have been fished to depletion, Rock fish were nearly fished to extinction and saved by moratorium. The Shad fishery is practically nonexistant. Herring were once so thick you could almost walk across a creek on them in the spring. The asnwers are there we must stop taking more than the bay can produce. We can't eat the seed corn this winter and expect to plant corn in the spring.

 

[Jimm]

Sustainable solutions.....

This thread does a pretty complete job of identifying problems and assigning blame - usually it's the other guy. We all contribute in one way or another if we recreate or live somewhere in the 64,000 sq miles of the Bay watershed.
We all have something we can do(or avoid doing) to help with the restoration of the Bay.
The most sustainable solutions are those grounded in the realities of operational and economic constraints of individuals and businesses. Good and very bright folks are working on these problems.There will always be a shortage of money and it will always take longer than many think it should to achieve measurable progress. Constant vigilance and persistence is essential.
At a minumum, the sailing community (each of us) should be supporting conservation efforts directly and/or monetarily - the Bay and its watershed is home and/or playground to many of us. It is also just one vivid example of what is happening to waters everywhere around the globe.
I'd be remiss if I didn't draw your attention to an outfit I work for that takes a sensible approach to sustainable solutions .... the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay - http://www.acb-online.org/index.cfm
Help where you can, however you can!

 

[KD3PC]

"it will always take longer than many think"...

but 30 years to really do nothing is a long time...

We need to impress upon our representatives that cleaning up the bay IS as important as all the other pork projects, AND that ALL will need to tighten up.

Even though the last few years we lived in Roanoke half year, and the boat half year we:

do not use pesticides at either
do use low impact detergents and boat wash
pick up all trash we see while on the boat, on the way to and fro and in the creek at home
cancelled our lawn service and just deal with an imperfect lawn
contain and recycle all oil changes and filters, correctly
install and maintain buffer plants to keep run-off to a minimum