The Pennsylvania Office of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation this week issued the first of what will be a series of fact sheets on the Chesapeake Bay Watershed cleanup and Pennsylvania’s commitments to that initiative.

This first fact sheet-- A Primer On Pollutants Of Concern-- outlines the contributions Pennsylvania’s portion of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed makes to nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment pollution to the Bay. 

50 percent of the freshwater entering the Chesapeake Bay comes from Pennsylvania and 49 percent of Pennsylvania drains to the Chesapeake Bay.

Agriculture (53 percent), forests (19 percent) and urban and non-urban stormwater (15 percent) are the three major sources of nitrogen going into Pennsylvania’s streams and rivers and ultimately the Bay.

Agriculture (54 percent), point source wastewater plants (19 percent) and urban and non-urban stormwater (16 percent) are the three major sources of phosphorus going to the Bay from Pennsylvania.

Agriculture (62 percent), urban and non-urban stormwater (22 percent) and forests (15 percent) are the three major sources of sediment load going into Pennsylvania streams and rivers going to the Bay.

The fact sheet then outlines how Pennsylvania has already taken significant steps to reduce pollutants going to the Bay, in particular agriculture and wastewater plants, and then outlines the reduction milestones Pennsylvania must meet in the future.

Click Here for a copy of the fact sheet.

9/23/2013