After decades of effort, the voluntary, collaborative approach to restoring the health and vitality of the Chesapeake Bay— the largest estuary in the United States—has not worked and, in fact, is failing. A diverse group of 57 senior scientists and policymakers have joined forces to save the Bay. This is our plan.

See real life people & pets affected by bay runoff

TAKE ACTION NOW!

What you have seen is shocking but true: decent people who love the Chesapeake Bay getting life-threatening infections by simply coming in contact with its polluted waters–and their pets, too.

What causes these infections? Every time it rains, the water runs off paved surfaces and washes all the nutrients, chemicals, and dirt into our creeks and streams. An inch of rain falling on an acre of hard surface can produce 27,000 gallons of stormwater runoff.

Stormwater runoff flushes fertilizer from lawns, and pesticides, oil and anti-freeze, pet waste, and sediment (dirt) into the nearest creek or stream from developed areas such as your house, streets, and all hardened surfaces whether shopping centers, churches, schools, parking lots, or highways.

HERE’S WHAT YOU CAN DO TO PREVENT BAY POLLUTION

… Read our list of things you can do yourself to minimize runoff at your home , business, office, school, or house of worship…

NEWS & UPDATES FROM BAY ACTION PLAN

Draft of new Bay agreement undermines cleanup

Posted by Senator Gerald Winegrad • 0 Comments

Our group found serious shortcomings in the draft of the first Bay agreement in 14 years, the first after the mandatory adoption of the pollution diet under the Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load and state watershed implementation plans. We fear the current draft may undermine, not advance, Bay cleanup efforts. … Continue Reading

Bay agreement efforts are foundering

Posted by Senator Gerald Winegrad • 2 Comments

If, in 1983, we were to create a nightmare scenario for the bay, this would be it — we are living that nightmare! The cause of this decline is attributable to the failure to properly address pollutants from developed land — stormwater runoff — and from agricultural operations. About 90 percent of bay waters remain polluted in violation of the Clean Water Act… Continue Reading

Ag Certainty: Making Certain that the Bay Remains Polluted

Posted by Michele Merkel • 2 Comments

With Ag Certainty, we’ve just thrown a “critical” part of the TMDL out the window; the only real “certainty” that remains is that we’ll all be sitting down in 2025 again and try to come up with the next, great plan to clean up the Bay.… Continue Reading