Most water quality measures are improving in the Chesapeake Bay but the overall grade of the 64,000 square-mile watershed remains a D-plus, said the Chesapeake Bay Foundation in an annual report on Tuesday. Phosphorus and nitrogen runoff lessened in 2020 and the oxygen-depleted “dead zone” was smaller.
“Nitrogen and phosphorus pollution from the Susquehana and Potomac rivers was well below the 10-year average, partially reflection of below-average precipitation,” said the report. “The benefits of pollution-reduction measures may also be at play.” The report said Pennsylvania “must establish a state agricultural cost-share program to assist farmers” in reducing nutrient runoff.
To achieve long-term goals for cleaner water, “efforts to reduce pollution from agricultural and urban and suburban runoff must accelerate,” said the report. “Progress to date has relied heavily on pollution reductions at wastewater treatment plants.”
Six of the 13 indicators used by the foundation in assessing the health of the bay improved in 2020, four declined and three were unchanged. The declines were in forested buffers, underwater grasses, rockfish numbers and the shad population.
The State of the Bay report is available here.