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How Does the Clean Water Act Help the Chesapeake Bay
The Chesapeake Bay is best known for being the largest estuary in the United States. It is located between Maryland and Virginia, opening into the Atlantic Ocean, and covers over 64,000 miles. It has a huge impact upon the states that border it and the entire world, because it connects the Atlantic Ocean and other water sources.
Discussions of how does the Clean Water Act help the Chesapeake Bay are important because if it's biological diversity and connection to the world. Not only is the Bay home to numerous plants and animals, it's a playground and a transportation corridor. The Clean Water Act should help preserve this environment, but it's not being enforced adequately to do that. Before long, if we aren't careful, it's going to only be a transportation corridor.
Historically, the Chesapeake Bay has played a role in the lives of such great historical figures and events as George Washington, Captain John Smith, and the Revolutionary and Civil Wars. Environmentally, the Chesapeake Bay is the home to thousands of plants and animals that are not seen anywhere else in the country and many endangered or threatened species of animals and plants, including the Delmarva Fox Squirrel, the Bald Eagle, the Puritan Tiger Beetle, and a wildflower known as Swamp Pink. Being home to such a diverse collection of flora and fauna is one reason it's so important attention be given to the pollution released into the Chesapeake Bay; to keep these species alive and thriving.
The Clean Water Act is the federal law in the United States that was created to control water pollution in public waterways across the United States. The original goal of the Clean Water Act was to eliminate the releasing of toxic substances into the water to completely rid the waterways of new releases of pollution by 1985. Although much has been done about the issue of water pollution, the goal that was set in 1977 when the Clean Water Act was created, has not been met. The Clean Water Act is supposed to protect the Chesapeake Bay just as strongly as it protects rivers across the country, but the water pollution problem in the Chesapeake Bay has only gotten worse, as was clearly seen during 2003.
In the summer of 2003, the Chesapeake Bay saw one of the largest "dead zones" that was every recorded. This "dead zone" was largely attributed to the high amounts of nitrogen that are released into the waterways that feed the Chesapeake Bay and the bay itself. This zone stretched for hundreds of miles in the bay, choking out the fish and plant life, because they couldn't get the oxygen that they needed to live and/or thrive.
What are the sources of the nitrogen in the water? The most common sources of this very dangerous pollutant are sewage treatment plants, agriculture runoff, and air pollution from cars and industries. The pollution dispenses large amounts of nitrogen into the water, which causes algae to bloom and this chokes the oxygen out of the water and hurts the environment in many different ways.
The Chesapeake Bay Foundation CBF.org has came together to help protect the waters of the Chesapeake Bay. They are demanding that the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) enforce the Clean Water Act to help control the amount of pollution that is released into the Chesapeake and surrounding waterways. They have taken legal action to help enforce the Clean Water Act in their pursuit of cleaner waters. Without some attention being given to this matter, it will continue to worse, causing environmental impacts that cannot be imagined.
How does the Clean Water Act help the Chesapeake Bay? If enforced, it would greatly help the pollution problem that the waters in the Chesapeake Bay are facing. It would help maintain a biological diversity that benefits the planet. If not enforced, it's not worth the paper it's written on. If not enforced, it contributes to biological monotony that harms the planet. By learning more about the issue you can help make a change and a difference. For more information, visit CBF.org or ChesapeakeBay.net.
