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Post by Rich Fisher on Mar 30, 2010 16:46:42 GMT -4
Dry weather is bad, warm is bad, now rain is bad too... Jeez.
Wet weather washing more pollution into Chesapeake
BALTIMORE (AP) - Maryland natural resources officials say this year's wet weather is washing more pollution into the Chesapeake Bay. Department of Natural Resources officials say storm runoff contains nitrogen and phosphorous from fertilizer on lawns and farms as well as pollution from septic systems, sewers and roads. That can fuel oxygen-robbing algae blooms in the bay. However, they say long-term monitoring shows less pollution in streams that feed the bay due to improvements at sewage treatment plants. Department of Natural Resources officials discussed the impact of the wet weather on Monday at the Gwynns Falls during monthly monitoring of the Baltimore waterway. The waterway is one of dozens regularly monitored statewide by DNR scientists.
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Post by funnel101 on Mar 30, 2010 17:49:27 GMT -4
It sounds like fertilizer and pollution is hurting the bay, not rain...
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Post by bchevy on Mar 30, 2010 20:36:55 GMT -4
What Funnel said
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Post by Deleted on Mar 31, 2010 23:20:06 GMT -4
Some states and local governments around the country are implementing a tax on developers to combat this.....it's referred to by some as a "Rain Tax".
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Post by bchevy on Apr 1, 2010 5:55:00 GMT -4
We need to limit the use of lawn fertilizers, MOST people have no clue how and when to use it, I'd say that most of the bagged fertilizers sold to harry homeowner goes in the bay, not good.
Didn't Maryland BAN Detergents with phosphorous?
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Post by bluecrabber on Apr 1, 2010 12:26:40 GMT -4
Lawn fertilizers likely contribute, but think about what time of year it is.. Most people fertilize in the spring.. by late winter most of the fertilizer from last year has been absorbed by the lawn. Most of the sewage that ends up in the bay during periods of heavy rains and the rapid snow melt comes from municipal treatment plants and storm sewers that can't handle the extra volume. It is a cop out by the state and municipalities to blame all the sewage runoff on people with septic systems.. As a side note, I find it interesting that on average the Severna Park, Arnold area in AA county has about 6 sewage spills a year. Those spills hardly make the news. If you find a report at all it is buried in the back of the crabwrapper. However, remember when Centreville had a spill in the Corsica? It was almost national news. I read an interesting report a while back in the DelMarVa Farmer newspaper. It was a scientific analysis of fecal matter in the bays waterways and streams. It was done in response to increased political and environmental activist pressure on the poultry industry. The breakdown was pretty surprising. The largest percentage of fecal matter in the samples was from waterfowl (ducks and geese) dog and cat feces, human feces, deer, and a number of other sources that had higher contents than the chickens.. Just another study that gets buried since it is counterproductive to the alarmists looking for somebody to blame and tax.. Best regards, BC
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Post by moosie on Apr 1, 2010 18:48:50 GMT -4
It sounds like fertilizer and pollution is hurting the bay, not rain... possibly not entirely true--rain is not clean--acids, whatever, transported across the country. all these things just add to the problem.
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