Matt Ehrhart, Emily Miller and her cow Blessing promote REAP Farm Conservation Tax Credit.

By Matthew Ehrhart, Pennsylvania Executive Director, Chesapeake Bay Foundation

Nearly 15,000 miles of Pennsylvania's rivers and streams, along with the entire Chesapeake Bay are currently on the nation's "dirty waters list." While recent regional articles seem to focus on the local cost to clean up the bay, many are forgetting that the efforts will first and foremost help restore Pennsylvania's waterways.

When it comes to restoring water quality, it's easy to point fingers. But the truth is that the responsibility falls on every one of us -- all 16 million people living within the 64,000-square-mile Chesapeake Bay watershed -- to take the necessary steps to reduce pollution that travels downstream.

While Pennsylvanians may not have direct contact with the bay, we all have an impact on the creeks, streams and rivers that flow into it. The Susquehanna River, the bay's largest tributary, contributes over 50 percent of the fresh water entering the bay -- what we do to our water here has a significant impact on our downstream neighbors

The nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment pollution that degrades our local watersheds and the bay comes from a variety of sources: sewage treatment plants, agricultural runoff, manicured lawns, parking lots, driveways, even automobile exhaust. To say that one source is less significant than another is not the way to tackle the problem. If we are to save the Chesapeake and our local streams, everyone will need to do their share.

Publicly, the loudest outcry has been about the expense to upgrade our sewage treatment plants with updated technologies that reduce pollution entering our streams. Local communities are feeling incredible pressure to pay for these expensive upgrades, and rightly so. The changes are required by the Environmental Protection Agency as part of federal Clean Water Act, but Pennsylvania does not have a designated funding source to pay for the advancements -- so the burden falls on ratepayers.

Unfortunately, many plants have not undergone meaningful upgrades in 20 or in some cases 30 years. Reducing pollution in sewage discharges is relatively inexpensive when a plant uses current technology. But when the facility uses 1970s technology, costly improvements are necessary for significant pollution reduction to occur.

But one might also ask, "why the delay?" For almost a decade, sewage treatment plants have known that there would be new permit limits to address impairments in the Chesapeake Bay by 2010. We cannot afford to wait any longer. If we do, fixing the problem will only become more difficult and more costly.

Another source of pollution comes from local farms. Farmers have been publicly attacked for a perceived lack of effort to do their share. This simply is untrue.

Since the bay restoration effort began in the early 1980s, Pennsylvania has adopted new environmental regulations on agriculture, and farmers have contributed approximately $350 million of their own money to reduce agricultural run off and to improve water quality.

Despite this significant investment, everyone agrees that more resources and compliance by all farmers is needed to make further pollution reductions.

There's no one easy solution to the problem; significant progress must be made by both sewage treatment plants and farmers to meet water quality standards. If not, the federal government will take control of the process and limit Pennsylvania's ability to be flexible and find pragmatic solutions to the issue.

Pennsylvania must find a way to help reduce the financial burden on communities while moving forward with changes. New funding opportunities such as the REAP Program, nutrient trading, Growing Greener grants and others, are a start. But far more is needed.

Everyone wants clean water, a healthy and plentiful food supply, and safe, affordable infrastructure systems to provide for our daily needs. Investments to restore our waterways, while not inexpensive, will be reasonable, wise, and benefit future generations.

Matthew Ehrhart is Pennsylvania Executive Director of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and be contacted by sending email to: mehrhart@cbf.org or by calling 717-234-5550.

1/4/2008