The Chesapeake Bay Foundation released its annual State of the Bay Report this week giving the Bay’s health a grade of “D.” The health index rating of 27 is unchanged for the third year in a row.

The State of the Bay Report, which CBF issued for the first time in 1998, is a comprehensive measure of the Bay's health.

For the report, CBF evaluates 13 indicators: oysters, shad, crabs, striped bass (rockfish), underwater grasses, wetlands, forested buffers, resource lands, toxics, water clarity, dissolved oxygen, and phosphorus and nitrogen pollution. CBF scientists compile and examine the best available historical and up-to-date information for each indicator and assign it an index score and letter grade.

There were improvements to nitrogen and phosphorus indicators, but they were due, primarily, to decreased pollutant loads during the summer, a result of seasonal low rainfall. Dissolved oxygen worsened, the result of the excessive pollution flowing to the Bay during the spring. Dissolved oxygen is the primary indicator of Bay health. Underwater grasses acreage and shad and oyster health showed some improvement this year.

“Improvements have resulted from the efforts of Pennsylvania residents, the legislature, and regulatory agencies, but we need to do more,” CBF Pennsylvania Executive Director Matt Ehrhart said. “Pennsylvania plays a critical role in the health of the Bay, and it’s our responsibility to continue to work to improve water quality in Pennsylvania’s streams and rivers. The Bay will benefit, and reducing pollution to local waterways will improve the quality of life for the Commonwealth’s citizens and future generations.”

To improve the Bay score, CBF is pushing for implementation of proven, affordable technology to reduce pollution from sewage treatment plants, and has committed to working with the agricultural community to obtain the funding necessary to enable farmers to implement on-the-ground conservation practices that are key to ensuring clean water and a sustainable farming economy.

Well managed agricultural land provides many more environmental benefits than developed land. However, farm families are being squeezed, with expenses rising faster than income. Techniques and technologies that reduce polluted runoff from agriculture have been demonstrated to be effective, but farmers cannot shoulder the costs of implementation alone.

According to the federal Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resource Conservation Service, agriculture in the lower Susquehanna region alone produces more than 286,000 tons of excess manure each year.

CBF is calling for significant new investments, $100 million over a five-year period, to facilitate the development of alternative uses for excess manure that will benefit both farmers and the environment.

CBF also urges the evaluation of opportunities to provide incentives or requirements to use organic, composted material for fertilizer and soil amendments. If state agencies and institutions shifted from chemical fertilizers to composted manure based fertilizers and stabilization products, it would create a tremendous demand for what is now a problematic waste product.

Visit the Chesapeake Bay Foundation website for more information.

11/18/2005