Report: States Falling Short On Goals To Clean Up Chesapeake Bay

• Marie Cusick
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  Marie Cusick was the Harrisburg reporter for StateImpact Pennsylvania.

A new report on efforts to clean up the Chesapeake Bay finds although progress has been made, none of the states in the watershed are on track to meet their 2013 cleanup goals.
The analysis was conducted by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) and Choose Clean Water Coalition.
The report found Pennsylvania was falling short on five of its eight goals.
For example, while the state has successfully controlled barnyard runoff, it is not on track to reach the target number of forested buffer acres.
“While no state met the mark, and Pennsylvania and Delaware missed on half or more of the goals we evaluated, all jurisdictions had the opportunity to alter their plans to reach their 2013 pollution reduction goals.” said CBF President William C. Baker in a statement.
About 17 million people live within the watershed which includes parts of Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New York and Washington D.C.
Pollution sources include nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment from animal waste and
fertilizer, runoff from urban and suburban development, wastewater treatment plants, and septic systems. The problems have lead to large “dead zones” within the bay.
 

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