Essay 3: Water Pollution in the Chesapeake Bay

Stephanie Stebbing
EN 101-5
Professor Kerr
10/25/10

Water Pollution in the Chesapeake Bay

The effects of water pollution directly affect the balance of nature, which ultimately has an impact on all humans and the way we live. The Chesapeake Bay and its rivers, wetlands, and forests provide a home, shelter, and food for many animals. Its nutrients are essential to the life and growth of these animals, but too much of them can be detrimental to the animals that live there. This is one type of water pollution in the bay. Excessive amounts of nitrogen and phosphorus will degrade the water quality, and lead to algae blooms which can be harmful and even deadly to fish. Nitrogen can also be an airborne pollutant, and is the main cause of the bay’s poor health ("Chesapeake Bay Program") . Three types of pollution that affect the bay are pesticides, nitrogen, and sediments.
Pesticides and herbicides that wash off of fields, and the household chemical products that are washed down sewers pose a severe threat to the bay and the animal and human life in its region. Pesticides contaminate the water, which in turn makes it unusable to humans for drinking. It also gets into the fish because they drink the water, and when humans harvest the fish for food, we get the contaminated water in our system. A 2007 report done by the U.S. Geological Survey found a large amount of synthetic organic pesticides throughout the bay watershed (“Chesapeake Bay Program”). One type

of pesticide discovered in the bay was atrazine, which is widely used throughout the United States. Atrazine has been linked to the sexual abnormalities occurring in frogs. This pesticide contains a chemical which can cause reproductive anomalies. (“Chesapeake Bay Program”)

Sediments float throughout the water rather than falling to the bottom. When there is too much sediment, the water becomes cloudy, and it blocks the sunlight from reaching the bottom where many animals and underwater grasses grow. These underwater organisms need sunlight to live, so when it is blocked from coming through, they die. This also puts blue crabs and fish in danger because they depend on these grasses for shelter. Sediments can also be combined with nutrients and other chemical contaminants which get spread throughout the bay, contaminating organisms residing in these areas of the bay. Excess sediments also have a negative affect on commercial shipping and recreational boating because the ports can become clogged by accumulated sediment.
Pollution takes many different forms, all of which are harmful and can be deadly to the life in the Chesapeake Bay. Nutrients are necessary to the growth and survival of most organisms in the bay, however, when nutrients such as nitrogen become too abundant in the water, it causes excessive algae growth which blocks the sunlight from other animals, often resulting in their death. Pesticides come from agricultural and commercial run-off, which contaminates the water and harms any organism-animal or human-who drinks it. Sediments cause the water to become cloudy, and allows less sunlight to reach the underwater grasses in the bay. All of these contaminants are polluting the bay’s waters, and though there are several different organizations providing care for the animals and waters and trying to keep the bay clean, there will always be some pollution in the Chesapeake.
　Sediments are another contributing factor to the bay’s pollution. Sediment is made up of clay particles, silt, and sand. It is a natural part of the bay’s watershed, but in excess can cloud the waters, causing harm to fish, oysters, and underwater grasses. Nitrogen, among other nutrients, is one of the biggest pollutants to affect the Chesapeake Bay. A study was performed in the 1970’s which linked agricultural development, population growth, and sewage treatment plant discharges to the increase in nutrients in the waters. These nutrients also come from point sources such as industrial waste water, non-point sources such as cropland and suburban run-off, and and airborne contaminants ("Great Waters Program: Chesapeake Bay"). Nitrogen and Phosphorus are two necessary nutrients for the organisms in the bay to survive. However, when the bay becomes too enriched with these nutrients, it causes algae blooms and excessive growth of phytoplankton. This is a negative effect on the life in the waters for two reasons: it causes the excessive algae amounts to block out the sunlight in shallow areas, in which some aquatic grasses need that sunlight in order to grow, and the dead algae use up a lot of oxygen, which decreases the amount left for bottom-dwelling organisms such as oysters, clams, and worms ("Chesapeake Bay Foundation"). With the increased death of these organisms comes the increased starvation and death of other organisms who rely on these critters for food.