41% Of Chesapeake Bay Now Covered By Dead Zone - Baltimore Sun

[hatrack]

The low-oxygen "dead zone" in the Chesapeake Bay spread this month to cover 41 percent of the estuary, the second-worst reading for August in recorded history, according to scientific data released yesterday.

The dismal results followed a report in July from the federal- and state-funded Chesapeake Bay Program that 36 percent of the bay's main section had less than 5 milligrams per liter of dissolved oxygen, a level that ranked among the worst for that month in a quarter-century of monitoring.

EDIT

Low-oxygen "dead zones" spread during hot weather, when runoff of farm fertilizer and other pollutants into the bay feed the multiplication of algae. These rot and are consumed by bacteria in a process that deprives the water of oxygen that marine life needs to live. Rockfish, blue crabs and other species won't die instantly if exposed to slightly less than 5 milligrams per liter of dissolved oxygen, said David Jasinski, water quality data analyst for the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science. But they don't reproduce as well and can become unhealthy, he said.

More troubling, Jasinski said, is that about 10 percent of the bay had almost zero oxygen during the latest monitoring from Aug. 8 to Aug. 11. These were mostly the deepest sections of the bay, where there was less than 0.2 milligrams per liter of dissolved oxygen, a level that would kill fish, the Chesapeake Bay Program said.

EDIT/END

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-md.oxygen25aug25,1,2849181.story?ctrack=1&cset=true

[whatever4]

1. Rich folks are pissing in their own ponds nm

[H5N1]

2. Those who have never experienced this awesome estuary

may not be aware of how tragic this is.
Personally, I can hardly believe this is happening.

[NorCalDem]

3. It's such a shame

but it's not a surprise. Bush tells us that environmental protection is BAD though, so I don't think we should do anything about it :sarcasm:

[phantom power]

4. It's bad for the economy.

Whereas massive flooding, tropical storms, tornados, extended droughts, dead continental shelves, and $100/barrel oil are all going to be great for the economy.

[H5N1]

5. The Chesapeake Bay watershed stretches across six states!

And I fear it is doomed!

[dcfirefighter]

6. Increased suburbanization

Farmers try not to put more fertilizer than can be used by the crop - fertilizer running off is wasted money.

Harry Homeowner uses whatever he buys in the store.

Increased percent of paved surfaces increase surface runoff, which gives topsoil microbes & plants no chance to absorb the fertilizer. Only a small fraction of an area needs to be paved before surface flows start (rather than subsurface flows).

The stuff may sound goofy, but really, greenroofs, permeable paving, engineered wetlands, and native planting (vs. manicured lawns) would help a whole lot.

[jpak]

7. Atmospheric deposition of nitrogen is a major contributor

to eutrophication of Chesapeake Bay.

Estimates of atmospheric nitrogen deposition range from 20-80% (most people accept ~25% at present) of total nitrogen inputs into the Bay...

[phantom power]

8. Odd. Wouldn't that be a constant?

[jpak]

9. It's anthropogenic NOx

from auto and industrial emissions in the Chesapeake Bay airshed...

[dcfirefighter]

10. Ah, I didn't know that

I suppose that most people in the E&E forum have their pet issues.

Mine is land value taxation and it's extensions, as they seem to be, for me, the best solution to the root problem(s).

They offer curbed sprawl, decreased auto use, limited pollution, decreased energy use, and increased greenspace, all with little or no economic burden while providing more funding for government services.

From Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations:
Both ground-rent and the ordinary rent of land are a species of revenue which the owner, in many cases, enjoys without any care or attention of his own. Though a part of this revenue should be taken from him in order to defray the expenses of the state, no discouragement will thereby be given to any sort of industry. The annual produce of the land and labour of the society, the real wealth and revenue of the great body of the people, might be the same after such a tax as before. Ground-rents, and the ordinary rent of land, are, therefore, perhaps, the species of revenue which can best bear a peculiar tax imposed upon them.

Basically, it's something that people pay anyway, we can just shift a portion of the payment from the previous 'owner' to the general public.

[PaulaFarrell]

13. You're probably right that they would help but

the biggest source of nitrogen is still usually run off from farmland. There are something 4 or 6 rivers flowing into the Chesapeake, and they go through lots of intensive farmland, including intensive livestock areas. Farmers may 'try' not to put more fertlizer on than they need, but if they apply fertiliser (or slurry) and it rains, then they will get run-off.

And to be honest, I doubt most people fertilise their lawns - at least not at the rate that farmers do.

[OneBlueSky]

11. has anyone noticed that the entire environment is being destroyed . . .

melting permafrost in Siberia and Alaska, melting glaciers from Switzerland to Peru, dead zones in the Chesapeake, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Great Lakes, etc. etc. etc. . . somebody or some thing (the Earth? God? Creation? the Universe?) is trying to tell us something . . . as usual, we're not listening . . . and we WILL regret it . . .

[Poor Richard Lex]

12. I am from the Chesapeake Bay

and I have seen its decline. It breaks my heart to think of the abundance of fish, crab and oyster that was once there.