An informational slide show on the
effects of nitrogen pollution in the
Chesapeake Bay and the general
public’s interest and speculations
THE LEADING CAUSE OF NITROGEN
SEEPAGE IN THE CHESAPEAKE BAY
Listens to debates to decide what is going to best solve the issue
See the graph on paper
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“Nutrients” refers to nitrogen and
phosphorous, which enter the Chesapeake Bay
in huge quantities every year. These are
considered pollution because they inspire algal
blooms. This deprives Bay grasses of sunlight
and deplete water of oxygen, thus killing many
plants and animals which call the Bay their
home.
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The Chesapeake Bay has nine tributaries which
empty into it, and the areas surrounding these
are what contributes all of the nitrogen
pollution.
The Chesapeake area is largely utilized for
agriculture, so runoff from fertilizers and
animal waste brings millions of pounds of
nitrogen into the tributaries yearly.
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The three main contributors are the
Susquehanna, the Potomac, and the James
River.
A total of 97 percent of the pollution comes
from these three tributaries alone.
The Susquehanna carries half of all Chesapeake
Bay freshwater into the Bay.
Because the Susquehanna drains some of the
most productive agricultural land in the nation,
it is by far the primary source of nitrogen
pollution.
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From 1990 to 1992, 600 million pounds of
nitrogen entered the Chesapeake Bay through
the nine tributaries.
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Of course, an important factor of the pollution
is the population in the Chesapeake area.
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I asked students to answer, on a scale of one to
five, five being the most, how much they know
about nitrogen pollution in the bay. The
majority of students said three or below.
I believe students need to be more informed of
this issue if we are to save the Chesapeake Bay.
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I gave students another question, on a scale of
one to five, asking how pressing they believed
the issue of nitrogen pollution in the Bay is.
83.9% gave a three or above, indicating that
people do seem to care.
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Based on the data I have collected, I conclude
that unless the residents of the Chesapeake
area take action, this body of water will
eventually become a wasteland.
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Precentage per river graph-http://water.usgs.gov/wid/images/chesbay.fig2.gifSources
w/ goals graphhttp://www.makemarylandgreat.com/userfiles/Nitrogen%202010%20Goal%20Med.JP
GSources pie graphhttp://www.farmland.org/images/Chesapeake_Bay_N_graph-2.pngRelative
responsibility pie chartshttp://www.chesapeakebay.net/images/07pollutionpie.gifBar graph with sourceshttp://www.cbf.org/images/content/pagebuilder/34081.jpg&imgrefurl=
http://www.cbf.org/site/PageServer%3Fpagename%3Dresources_facts_mathias&usg=
__AermQSYLRnKKEq7CHYd03re5xDQ=&h=199&w=275&sz=9&hl=en&start=19&um=
1&tbnid=nu70ujKGZKs9eM:&tbnh=82&tbnw=114&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dnitrogen%2
Bpollution%2Bin%2Bthe%2Bchesapeake%2Bbay%26ndsp%3D18%26hl%3Den%26sa%3D
N%26start%3D18%26um%3D1Color graph with total nitrogen from agriculturehttp://media.mgnetwork.com/vab/siteimages/magazine/2007/20070822_ideas_nitrog
en.jpgChesapeake basin populationhttp://www.virginiaplaces.org/waste/graphics/chesbaypopgrowth.gif