Bay programs

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Harry Campbell, director of science policy and advocacy in the Bay Foundation's Pennsylvania office, said it was encouraging that improved information showed the state's efforts are having results. And, he said, initiatives to secure financial support, both at the state and federal level, could produce greater progress. After Pennsylvania, most of the improvements were credited to Maryland, which reduced nitrogen by 4. Much of that, almost 3 million pounds, came from upgrades and improved performance at wastewater treatment plants, said Jay Apperson, spokesman for the Maryland Department of the Environment.

Most of the rest of the state's reductions came from agriculture, though runoff from developed lands also dropped — Maryland and the District of Columbia were the only jurisdictions to show decreases in urban runoff. Overall, the region is attempting to reduce the amount of nitrogen that annually reaches the Bay from its watershed from The Bay Program estimates annual progress toward that goal based on the amount of runoff control practices states report installing each year, such as nutrient-absorbing cover crops or stream restorations, as well as wastewater treatment plant upgrades.

That information is fed to a computer model that estimates the impact those actions would have in reducing the amount of pollution reaching the Bay in a year with "average" rainfall. But years with more precipitation send more nutrients to the Chesapeake, while drier years result in less runoff.

Many on-the-ground actions, such as cover crops or streamside forest plantings, can take years to produce results that reach the Chesapeake, so the full impact of actions taken now may not be realized for decades. The regional goal is to have enough practices in place by to fully meet Bay water quality goals at some point in the future.

Based on the most recent model estimates, steps taken through would eventually reduce the amount of nitrogen reaching the Bay to That's far off track from what's needed by No state has shown a sustained rate of progress that would meet Bay nitrogen goals.

The story is better for phosphorus, another targeted nutrient, where progress is generally on track. But nitrogen is the nutrient primarily responsible for fouling the Bay and fueling the growth of algae blooms that cloud its water and deplete it of oxygen, creating "dead zones" as the excess algae decomposes.

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Chesapeake Bay Journal , News Partner. Posted Mon, Dec 20, at pm ET. Dec 17, Long considered a laggard in Chesapeake Bay cleanup efforts, Pennsylvania last year led the watershed in nitrogen reductions reported by the state-federal Bay Program partnership. Find out what's happening in Annapolis with free, real-time updates from Patch.

Let's go! Overall, the Bay Program's figures for show the following: New York reduced its nitrogen loads from Its goal is Pennsylvania reduced its nitrogen loads from Maryland reduced its nitrogen loads from Virginia reduced its nitrogen loads from