\"Saving the bay\" was the title of an article that appeared in Daily Press, our
ID: 105612 • Letter: #
Question
"Saving the bay" was the title of an article that appeared in Daily Press, our local couple of years ago. Another article titled "What's Killing the Chesapeake Bay?" appeared in the Washington Post also a few years ago. Both of these articles were referring to the many years of pollution of the Chesapeake Bay. Considering that the Chesapeake Bay watershed covers a wide geographical area (from New York to Virginia), provide a detailed discussion nature (source) of the Bay pollution problem. Include in your discussion "point source" and "non-point source" pollution.Explanation / Answer
According with the articles and news about the Chesapeake Bay pollution problem across the years, this estuary of 200 miles long located in the states of Maryland and Virginia lying inland from de Altlantic Ocean is having one of the biggest pollution problem in the U.S. Since 1970, was discovered one of the planet´s first marine dead zones at the Chesapeake Bay, because the water contains low levels of oxygen (hypoxia) which result in a massive fish kill. The fishes are an important part in the food chain of an environment such as an estuary, so when the Chesapeake Bay start with the decrease of fish species all the organisms star to have problems including humans, except for the algal that take advantage of the situation and nourish with the wastes from farms, houses, industries throughout the watershed. The algal bloom increase with the deposition of high levels of nitrogen and phosphorus and causes the algae to block sunlight from reaching underwater grasses that serve as food and habitat of a lot of other organisms. Also, when the algae die they produce bacteria that consume the oxygen in the water, making this environment almost impossible to live in. Another problem that makes the water to be cloudy is the deposition of sediment, made up of tiny particles of dirt, sand, and clay floating in the water and also blocking the sunlight to reach the grasses and the aquatic fauna of the estuary. So, the food chain is broken and the contamination is getting to high levels at the Chesapeake Bay and the results affect human activities, from wildlife endangered to problems with drinking water or spread of diseases. The point sources of this problem are mostly air pollution (25%), wastewater treatment and factories (16%) and septic (3%). The non-point sources are mainly the agricultural runoff (41%) and urban and suburban stormwater runoff (15%).
Related Questions
Navigate
Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.