Over the past few decades, the water quality in many rivers and bays has been improved by the elimination or control of point source discharges of sewage and industrial effluents. Unfortunately these gains have been offset at least in part by the increase in housing densities in many watershed areas and the resulting increase in the effects of so called non point sources pollution.
The recent building boom along with associated increase in road and parking lot construction have dramatically increased the acreage covered with impervious surfaces within in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. This has resulted in an increase in the volume of stormwater run-off going into streams and rivers and eventually the Chesapeake Bay.
Unfortunately there are a number of consequences associated with this increase in the volume of storm water runoff. Some streams will more frequently overflow their banks creating localized flooding and in others, water velocities have increased to the point that vegetation that once stablized stream banks is scoured away by the force of the water. This in turn allows large quantities of sediment to be carried downstream resulting in increased water turbidity which shades beds of submerged aquatic vegetation(SAV) and this suspended sediment if in sufficient quantity may smother them as well. In addition this silt often carries with it nutrients and other chemicals creating prime conditions for algal blooms which can reduce dissolved oxygen levels to a point where most aquatic life is unable to survive in the affected area.
A lot can be done through storm water management where water is detained and the volume of water flowing into streams and rivers at any one time is limited.
Retarding run off - rain barrels, rain gardens,stormwater management ponds, impoundments help to reduce or delay run off going into streams and rivers
Identify storm water management ponds that require dredging.
Survey streams and rivers to identify areas where erosion is occurring. Maintain or upgrade trails and dirt roads in close proximity to streams
Work with landowners and trail maintenance groups to reduce erosion of stream banks.
Educate homeowners about the responsible application and use of fertilizers, herbicides and other household chemicals.
Encourage property owners to allow vegetative buffers to grow on their property where the land drains into a watershed.
A great deal of effort has been expended in the past few decades in trying to address the symptoms rather that the root causes of the Bay decline. Some examples of this are replanting beds of submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) or seeding an oyster bed. While well intentioned what managers of these projects have failed to recognize is that each of these organisms are components is a larger system in which they work together to maintain the proper environmental conditions for each other. That being said I would suggest that replanting of SAV should be done either near an established population of filter feeders or a population of filter feeders should be created to maintain the clarity of the water. Consideration should be given to seeding the reestablished beds of aquatic vegetation with small snails or other grazers that will feed on the epiphytic algae growing on the SAV.
One possible way of providing this filtering mechanism to newly established beds of eel grass is to use rafts of Blue Mussels of type used comercially in Europe. Blue Mussels are a native species that is well acclimated for a 5-20 °C temperature range, with an upper sustained thermal tolerance limit of about 29°C for adults although under 25°C is better. This can be augmented by seeding the beds with native clams.
Water monitoring can be a useful tool for identifying the source or likely source of pollutants as well determining whether the measures taken to mitigate pollution are successful.
Chemical testing of storm water management ponds, streams to identify areas of high nutrient run off and to home in on point sources.
At one time you within the Mid Atlantic region, Canada geese would only be seen in the spring and fall as they followed their traditional migratory routes. Today the Chesapeake watershed is host to a rather large population of resident geese that have found the climate to be mild enough for them to survive here year round. Since this is a fairly recent phenomena, there is only a limited amount of data on the impact of this species on the health of local waterways. One thing that we do know is that each goose produces more than a pound of fecal matter per day if not within a body of water certainly close enough to it that surface runoff will transport it into the water. The photo above shows a flock of geese by the reflecting pool on the Mall in Washington, DC. The green brown material on the white stone are goose droppings, one of the main drawbacks of having populations of resident geese. These droppings are likely a significant contributor to nutrient pollution in local streams and rivers.