Pollution affects the water quality which in turn affects the wildlife that makes its home in the Bay including blue crabs, oysters, menhaden, and rock bass. Urban development and storm water runoff in Wilkes-Barre and other communities along the water contribute to the Chesapeake Bay’s dead zones. The nutrient build-up caused by storm water and agricultural runoff creates algae blooms that consume oxygen and create dead zones when the algae decompose. In turn, over the years, the blue crab and oyster populations have also diminished.
Millions of dollars have been poured into multiple projects to help clean up the Chesapeake Bay and the tributaries that are located within its watershed. Some of these projects are funded through the Chesapeake Stewardship Fund, which has restored over 6,000 acres of wetlands and almost 1,500 miles of forest buffers in the Bay watershed. Plans like these are aimed at protecting the Bay, which is a large part of the economies of Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania.
Clean up of our environment is never too expensive. Citizens such as you and me are capable of walking down to a tributary like the Susquehanna and cleaning up a stretch of the river. It's not back-breaking work to walk a few feet and pick up some trash. You’re doing more damage to yourself by leaving the trash there and allowing it to pollute your water than you would if you took five minutes for a bit of clean up. Protecting our rivers and the Bay is the right thing to do -- and it makes good economic sense.
Christian Mazzocchi is a PennFuture intern and senior at King's College, Wilkes-Barre who will receive a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies with a double minor in geography and history in December. He enjoys fishing in the mighty Susquehanna in his spare time. As part of his major, he spent a week in 2013 in the Chesapeake Bay doing field work and learning about solutions to protect the Bay's ecosystem.
