Eastern North Carolina is home to eight different river basins; Lumber, Neuse, Cape Fear, White Oak, Tar-Pamlico, Roanoke, Chowan, and the Pasquotank (NCWRC, 2011). In these river basins are fertile agricultural lands that have propelled North Carolina into Top 3 rankings in tobacco, swine production, poultry receipts, sweet potatoes, cucumbers and turkeys (USDA, 2012). However, every river basin listed suffers from some form of water pollution, either in the surface water, which is seen, and the groundwater, which goes largely unnoticed. It is an ironic thing that the very things that bring about the prosperity in these areas are the reasons behind the problems. How has this pollution in our basins happened, and what are the people of Eastern North Carolina doing in order to fix these accumulated wrongs? It would be foolish to regress in the development of the coastal plain. The key to resolving the pollution problem lies in continuing the development while implementing conservation measures to correct the wrongs of generations past so that the river basins in the future will be an enjoyable and profitable for the inhabitants of the Eastern North Carolina river basins.
When people hear of pollution in the water system, agriculture is nearly always the first to get the finger pointed at. From Currituck to Lumberton, acres of agricultural crops are visible from the road. There are pick-for-yourself strawberry farms, hog houses with their lagoons, farmers markets selling their fresh produce; people are literally swamped with agriculture in all the river basins of Eastern North Carolina. It is natural for agriculture to get the blame with all of the exposure it gets in the community. Some of that blame is justifiable, though, as po...
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... found over 140 miles of the river. Flathead catfish can grow quite large, up to 123 pounds. Their fast growth rates, coupled with large mouths, make these fish eating machines and trouble makers to wildlife personnel. Based on research by Dobbins, Cailteux, Midway and Leone, native species of catfish are a major part of the flathead catfish’s diet, along with native sunfish such as bluegill and largemouth bass. Largemouth bass are the area’s top game fish and are of economic importance to the area. While not a river, Jordan Lake is seeing an influx of these aggressive predators with absolutely no way to stop them from dominating. Tom Kwak, a flathead catfish expert and N.C. State University professor, says in a News & Observer interview that “…they’re also eating the largemouth bass food supply… combined, they can reduce another species by 50 percent” (N&O, 2010).
Television commercials, print ads, and billboards in the Washington, DC, area are asking residents to connect two things many might find unrelated: lawn care and seafood. In one commercial, a man stuffs a big plateful of grass in his mouth after a voice-over says, “Spring rains carry excess lawn fertilizers through our sewers and rivers and into the Chesapeake Bay, where the blue crab harvest has been extremely low. So skip the fertilizer until fall, because once they’re gone, what’s left to enjoy?”(Environment, p. 7)
Problems like these are just one of the many causes of water pollution. Coal, storm water, and pigs are some of the biggest threats to the Cape Fear River, the ocean, and other bodies of water that surround Wilmington. In this paper, we will focus on causes and effects of water pollution then look at some possible solutions for the problems, particularly here in Wilmington.
Bibliography Laws, Edward A. Aquatic Pollution. 2nd edition. New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc. 1993. Pg. 301-305. Adams, Aurthur G. The Hudson Through the Years. New Jersey: Lind Publications, 1983. ------------------------. The Hudson: A Guide to the River. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1981. Barnthouse, Lawrence W. Science, Law, and the Hudson River WWW.SCENICHUDSON.ORG WWW.HUDSONRIVER.ORG WWW.RIVERKEEPER.ORG
Excessive nutrients from agriculture, development, and industry are harming the Chesapeake Bay. These excessive nutrients harm the habitat for many of the bays species. On top of the habitat being depleated, overfishing and diseases are also hurting the bays species. Nutrient loads can be reduced with the help of lawmakers to put a cap on the emissions allowed in the environment. If this is done the dead zone will start to recede, but the time and money need to be spent in order to save the bay.
...ell. We should care about the health and well-being of the plant and animal life around us because the majority of us also depend on these animals and their life cycles for nourishment. The water from thiswatershed, as well as others, is where we get our drinking water, irrigation and other industrial water usage, which means that the animals depend on this water as well. If they ingest harmful chemicals, we in turn ingest these chemicals with our daily food intake. The James River Association accepts volunteers to assist with the care of the Chesapeake River watershed and its sub-watersheds. There are lots of other ways to get involved in the prevention of further pollution to our precious natural resources. The first step is to not become part of the problem. Do not liter, don’t dump your oils in the gutters and think that you are not part of the problem.
In the book “Eating animals” by Jonathan Safran Foer, he points out the many negative effects of factory farming has on the environment. More particularly, in “Chapter 6:Slices of Paradise/Pieces of Shit”, Safran Foer talks about the environment tolls of animal agriculture waste, which results in killing wildlife, polluting air, water and land . He states “the problem is quite simple: massive amount of shit”. According to farmsanctuary.org “In the U.S. alone, animals raised on factory farms generate more than 1 million tons of manure per day, three times the amount generated by the United States population”. Because of this Safran Foer state factory farms use unorthodox methods to get rid of the excess waste. According to Safran Foer, one of the methods that factory farms use is dumping it into natural rivers, which results in killing wild marine life by pollution. Factory farms typically store animal waste in vast, air exposed lagoons, often the size of several football fields, which are likely have spills and leaks. In 2011 it was reported by the state-journal register that an Illinois factory farm spilled over two hundred fifty thousand gallons of manure into a creek, which killed over one hundred thousand fish. Because of their negligent choice the Illinois factory farm were fined over eighty thousand dollars. “Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan 's office said in a news release
One of the major problems affecting, not only oceans around the world, but also many local bodies of water right now is the problem of ocean acidification. You may have heard of ocean acidification, which you may have just disregarded as a problem that affects the large oceans as a whole. However, this acidification also affects the Chesapeake Bay itself. I have come to realize that the acidification of the Chesapeake is a major problem that will affect the diverse ecosystem that all the wildlife is located in, but also the many businesses locally and throughout the state that depend on the health of the ocean and the wildlife located in the
In 1993-1995, North Carolina continued its aggressive program to control nonpoint source pollution. North Carolina established the NPS Workgroup, implemented NPS Teams for each of the 17 river basins, published a guide for establishing a point/nonpoint source pollution reduction trading system, and introduced the Draft Interim Plan of the Neuse River Nutrient Sensitive Waters (NSW) Management Strategy.
Smith, Kitty. "Harmony Between Agriculture and the Environment". Economic Research Division, USDA. Available online at http://www.ers.usda.gov. Accessed November 9, 2003.
The Chesapeake Bay is polluted with agricultural waste. We see things like 1.5 billion pounds of chicken waste that no one wants to take responsibility for. Ignoring standards, a waterway was tested for E. coli; the standard is 125 FCU/100ml of water. Yet this waterway’s level was at 48392 FCU/100ml. An industry that will go to great lengths to make sure that Congress doesn’t impose sanction against them.
The Charles River, always known as “having a healthy reputation for its extreme filth,” has a new lease on life ever since former governor Bill Weld took the dive heard round the world fully clothed around the same time the EPA announced a “Clean Charles” ready for swimmers by Earth Day 2005. Reactions concerning the river’s quality since Welds famous 1996 plunge have ranged from skepticism to complete dismissal of the cleanup promises, proving only that indeed, he “loved that dirty water.”
... (The Issues: Factory Farming, n.d.). Nutrients and bacteria from that waste can also contaminate waterways, disturbing the aquatic ecosystems.
Pollution of NC Water and Air Reported by Media. Riverlaw Blog, 10 Sept. 2011. Web. 9
Even though the Midwestern United States produces the majority of the country’s agriculture to date, this immense agricultural activity in the Midwest region has not only degraded the land itself but also the water in the regional rivers and tributaries, which is all interconnected in the network known as the Mississippi-Atchafalaya River Basin (also referred to as MARB). The MARB (Figure 1) covers an extensive 1,245,000 square miles and drains out into the Gulf of Mexico, where over the years it has accumulated an increased and dangerous amount of agricultural runoff pollution, namely nitrogen and phosphorus. Over the years, researchers have identified and pointed to several human interactions that have contributed to the degrading and toxic ecological changes occurring in the Gulf of Mexico. However, only 3 human interactions have been chosen as part of the focus for this research project, all of which will be introduced later in the paper. In addition to the human interactions that accelerates the degradation of the water in the GoM, it also important to note that the continual increase and accumulation of excess nutrients resulting from runoff is defined as eutrophication and is a true real world problem that must be reduced before water becomes uninhabitable.
Wetlands serve many purposes and are considered one of the most productive natural systems in the world. They serve as crucial "pit-stops" for migratory bird, house several species of plants and animals, cleanse and purify water, as well as providing utilitarian needs such as flood control (Allen, p.13). If fifteen percent of the wetlands destroyed in Ohio and Iowa would have been saved (over the history of wetland destruction), then two-thirds of the destructive flooding that happened throughout 1993 in the Midwest could have been prevented saving the U.S. a great deal of money. Maintaining the protection and restoration of the nation’s wetl...