Chesapeake Bay Essay

Introduction

The Chesapeake Bay is a large estuary located on the east coast of the United States. The bay is over 200 miles long and goes through Delaware, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia. The bay has much to offer the locals. Many locals have made a career out of harvesting the bay's sea food. The bay's harvest and many of its other attractions bring tourists and in turn revenue for the area. Oysters and blue crab are a big part of the culture in the bay area. However, these organisms are in danger and need help.

Description of the problem

Eutrophication is a concern in the Chesapeake Bay. Eutrophication is caused by excessive amounts of nutrients. Excessive nutrients in the bay have negative affects on

This can be misleading. The bay takes up a large part of land but it is not very deep and does not contain much water. This makes the bay vulnerable to pollutants because there is not much water to dilute them.(Runoff and the Chesapeake Bay) Most of the excessive nutrients in the bay come from agricultural run off. For example, Lancaster County produces more than ten billion pounds of manure annually. When the manure is not handled correctly the nutrients are washed into tributaries of the bay. Often too much manure and fertilizer is applied and the excessive nutrients find their way into the bay. Even when precautions are taken to keep excessive nutrients out of the bay they seep into the groundwater and pollute the

For many years now scientists and researchers have been paying their attention to the bay. Millions of dollars and hundreds of hours have been spent to return the bay to its glory. However, with all that has been done the bay is still in danger and the work is no where near complete. In 2005 the bay's health was evaluated at a “D”. (Chesapeake Bay Restoration) That is not ideal for a project that has been trying to restore the bay since the 1980s.

Many people can not seam to comprehend what is going on within the bay. The money and time has been spent many answers have been found and solutions are ready to be put into place so what is the hold up? One factor is the lack of responsibility assumed by political leaders. In 1984 legislation was signed by political leaders that began the restoration of the bay. The problem is that there are no great consequences if the requirements established by the legislation are not met. As a result ninety percent of the bay's waters are in violation of the legislation and no one is being held responsible. (Bay Agreement Efforts Are Foundering) If the people running this country can not be held responsible than how can we expect everyday citizens to do their