History & Health of the Bay

         The history of the Chesapeake Bay dates back to over 35 million years ago when an exploding meteor collided with Earth and formed a huge crater in the region. The craters depression causes rivers to converge, creating a valley. At the end of the last ice age, about 10,000 years ago, sea levels rose flooding the valley (National Park Service. 2018). Today, the Chesapeake Bay is the United States largest estuary and one of the most studied bodies of water in the world. A large amount of research has been conducted in the past four decades to measure the health of the Bay and its vulnerabilities. With the visible degradation of the nation’s waters becoming a concern, the Federal Water Pollution Control Act was passed in 1972 with the goal of working towards cleaning the nation's natural waterways. The Act was later amended and became the Clean Water Act in 1977. In 1976, Congress issued a directive to examine the Chesapeake to see what was causing its declining conditions. The directive, named the Chesapeake Bay Program, identified nutrients flowing into the Bay as being the major contributor to the declining water quality (Morgan, Owens, 2001). In 1983, the first Chesapeake Bay Restoration and Protection Plan was signed between the Environmental Protection Agency and the states of Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and DC. The agreement contained multiple goals to help restore and protect the Bay. These included reducing point-source and nonpoint-source nutrient loadings to the Bay, reducing toxins from industrial and water treatment plant sources, restoring the living resources in the Bay, and supporting and enhancing a cooperative approach among all levels of government, with the help of voluntary programs and organizations (Chesapeake Executive Council, 1985). A major turning point in the Bay’s restoration came when it was placed in the national spotlight during President Ronald Reagan's State of the Union address on January 25, 1984, where he said, “we will begin the long, necessary effort to clean up a productive recreational area and a special national resource—the Chesapeake Bay” (State of the Union Address, 1984). The mid-1980s was the point when restoring the Bay and measuring indicators of its health became a priority for the watershed states. 

     There are many indicators that can be used to assess the health of the Bay. These indicators are quantified by numerous agencies and organizations that conduct their own testing and analyses. Since 1985, the Maryland Department of Natural Resource’s Chesapeake Bay Monitoring Program has been testing and collecting samples throughout the Bay, currently at 101 locations (Maryland Department of Natural Resources, 2021). When including other state, federal, and research institutions, over 165 sites are regularly monitored. The Environmental Protection Agency, Maryland, Virginia, and numerous organizations such as the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and Blue Water Baltimore all conduct their own testing. Maryland measures water quality, algae, submissive aquatic vegetation, river inputs, and benthos (bottom dwellers including clams, bristle worms, oysters, and crabs) in their assessment (Maryland Department of Natural Resources, 2021). Blue Water Baltimore samples for nitrogen, phosphorus, pH, temperature, dissolved oxygen, water clarity, fecal bacteria, chlorophyll, and conductivity at their 49 sites in the Baltimore region (Blue Water Baltimore, 2020). A well-known report by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, "The State of the Bay", is released every other year and focuses on the current state of the Bay ecosystems. The Foundation measures nitrogen, phosphorus, dissolved oxygen, water clarity, toxins, forested buffers, wetlands, underwater grass, rockfish, oysters, and crabs (The Chesapeake Bay Foundation, 2022). Beyond water samples,land use is measured to help understand how terrestrial activities affect pollutants entering the Bay. Satellite imagery, aerial photos, and GIS are used to measure the extent of seagrass meadows. Fisheries are monitored by assessing the catch, and seafood is tested for human pathogens and toxic substances (Boesch, 2000).

     With so many indicators of the Bay’s health, it can be difficult to put an overall grade or score on how the Bay is currently doing. But that is exactly what the Chesapeake Bay Foundation has tried to do since their first “State of the Bay” report in 1998. Their latest report, in 2020, gave the Bay’s health a 32 out of 100. A small improvement from the first report which gave the bay a 27 out of 100. Their goal is for the Bay to reach a score of 40 by 2025 (The Chesapeake Bay Foundation, 2020). While a score and grade make it easy for the public and stakeholders to understand the current conditions, it is also important to look at trends in the Bay's conditions. With long-term assessments taking place since 1985, we can see that nutrient levels have been decreasing, oyster numbers improving, and dead zones shrinking. Dead zones are created from algae blooms which feed off nutrients in the Bay and deplete the water of oxygen. Nutrient compounds and toxic substances have declined in the decades since the Clean Water Act was enacted, along with risks to human health from environmental pathogens (Boesch, 2000). Overall, the Bay has been showing a long-term reduction in nutrients it receives from the Susquehanna, Potomac, and James River, the three largest rivers that flow into it (United States Geological Survey, 2021). However, long-term trends in some categories or variables show mixed results. For example, phosphorus, a nutrient that contributes to hypoxia and dead zones in the Bay, has decreased in 38% of the 66 tested stations but increased at 26% of the stations. Many of the increases were driven by dissolved phosphorus leaching or running off of agricultural fields, particularly from poultry farms on the Delmarva Peninsula, and high concentrations from small farms in Southeast Pennsylvania (Kleinman et al, 2019). Even with the progress and nutrient reductions made in the last four decades, the Bay still suffers from dead zones caused by algal blooms (fed by nutrients) that decompose and remove oxygen from deep water. But again, it is important to look at trends which show that 2020 had the smallest dead zone on record since monitoring started in 1985 (United States Geological Survey, 2020).  While the dead zone did increase again in 2021, it is believed to have been affected by an unusually hot and wet summer, conditions that affected river runoff and nutrient flow in the Bay.

     Since the 1970’s, many different agencies, organizations, and volunteers have worked tirelessly to monitor and restore the Bay. There is no single way to assess the Bay’s health, but there are numerous ways to monitor it and act accordingly. The states in the watershed area all share responsibility and have taken action to improve the Bay’s health. 

Resources:

Blue Water Baltimore (2020). Baltimore Water Watching. Measuring and mapping the health of Baltimore’s waterways. Retrieved January 12, 2022 from https://baltimorewaterwatch.org/

Boesch, D. F. (2000). Measuring the health of the Chesapeake Bay: toward integration and prediction. Environmental Research, 82(2), 134-142. 

The Chesapeake Bay Foundation (2022). About the Indicators. Retrieved January 12, 2022 from https://www.cbf.org/about-the-bay/state-of-the-bay-report/sotb-about-the-indicators.html#pollution

The Chesapeake Bay Foundation (2020). 2020 State of the Bay Report: Overall Score – 32, D+. Retrieved January 14, 2022 from https://www.cbf.org/about-the-bay/state-of-the-bay-report/

Chesapeake Executive Council. (1985). Chesapeake Bay restoration and protection plan. United States Environmental Protection Plan.

Kleinman, P. J., Fanelli, R. M., Hirsch, R. M., Buda, A. R., Easton, Z. M., Wainger, L. A., ... & Shenk, G. W. (2019). Phosphorus and the Chesapeake Bay: Lingering issues and emerging concerns for agriculture. Journal of Environmental Quality, 48(5), 1191-1203.

Maryland Department of Natural Resources (2022). Chesapeake Bay Monitoring. Retrieved January 14, 2022 from https://dnr.maryland.gov/waters/bay/Pages/default.aspx. 

Maryland Department of Natural Resources (2022). Eyes on the Bay: Fixed Station Monthly Monitoring. Retrieved January 14, 2022 from https://eyesonthebay.dnr.maryland.gov/bay_cond/station_select.cfm

Morgan, C., & Owens, N. (2001). Benefits of water quality policies: the Chesapeake Bay. Ecological Economics, 39(2), 271-284.

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National Park Service (2018). Chesapeake Bay. Retrieved from https://www.nps.gov/chba/learn/geological-formation.htm

State of the Union Address (1984). Retrieved January 14, 2022, from https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/address-before-joint-session-the-congress-the-state-the-union-4

United States Geological Survey (2020). Chesapeake Bay dead zone smaller than in recent years. Retrieved January 14, 2022, from https://www.usgs.gov/news/chesapeake-bay-dead-zone-smaller-recent-year

United States Geological Survey (2021). Nutrient Pollution in Bay’s 3 Largest Rivers Trending Downward. Retrieved January 14, 2022 from https://www.usgs.gov/centers/chesapeake-bay-activities/news/nutrient-pollution-bays-3-largest-rivers-trending-downward