We recently reported on this blog that a federal district court in Pennsylvania had upheld the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) pollution diet (or TMDL) for the Chesapeake Bay watershed against industry challenges. This, of course, is great news but, as we all know from experience, a diet will produce healthy results only if we’re truly committed to following it.
As one of the key contributors to Chesapeake Bay pollution, Pennsylvania is a key ingredient to restoring a healthy Bay. Nearly half of Pennsylvania’s land drains into waterways that eventually discharge into the Bay.
So, just how close is Pennsylvania to reaching the targets set by EPA’s pollution diet for the Chesapeake? According to a recent report by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, we’ve made considerable progress, but we have a long way to go. The Chesapeake Bay Foundation credits Pennsylvania’s farmers for making notable improvements in reducing water pollution since 1985. In fact, since 1985, for the three major pollutants to the Bay, farmers have reduced their pollution contribution by: 14.5 million pounds of nitrogen; 434,000 pounds of phosphorus; and a whopping 431.3 BILLION pounds of sediment. That’s quite an impressive achievement!
Unfortunately, it’s only the beginning of the reduction Pennsylvanians – farmers, industry, sewage treatments plants, and citizens – must make if we’re going to do our share to bring the Chesapeake Bay back to health. Under the EPA’s pollution diet, Pennsylvanians will need to reduce our nitrogen pollution by about an additional 25 million pounds per year, phosphorus pollution by an additional 1 million pounds per year, and sediment by over 1 billion pounds per year by the year 2025. That will take work and commitment but, as anyone who has reaped the results of a successful diet knows, the rewards are worth the effort. And, we can derive extra satisfaction from knowing that the economic, public health, and aesthetic rewards from a healthy Chesapeake Bay will provide countless benefits, not just to us but also to future generations.
