Question of the Week: Wastewater Treatment Plants
Welcome to the latest installment of the BayBlog Question of
the Week. Each week we take a question submitted through the Chesapeake Bay Program
website and answer it here for all to read.
This week’s question comes from Matt:
“How are limits at wastewater treatment plants set? Is it
based on water quality standards or limit of technology?”
Ultimately, nutrient discharge limits for wastewater
treatment plants in the Chesapeake Bay
watershed are set to improve water quality, but many plants face limitations
because of technological capabilities. Nutrient discharge from wastewater
treatment facilities is one of the biggest causes of poor water quality in the
Bay. Because of this, the Chesapeake Bay Program has been working to reduce
nutrient pollution from these sources since 1985.
In 2005, the Chesapeake Bay
jurisdictions introduced a new permitting process limiting the amount of
nitrogen and phosphorous that the watershed’s 483 major wastewater treatment
plants could discharge. These limits meant that most facilities had to make
major renovations and upgrades to include biological nutrient removal and
enhanced nutrient removal technologies.
In the biological nutrient removal (BNR) process, microorganisms
remove nitrogen and phosphorous from wastewater during treatment. The
wastewater treated in this process contains less than 8 milligrams per liter
(mg/l) of nitrogen. Enhanced nutrient
removal improves upon the BNR process, with wastewater treated at these plants
containing 3 mg/l of nitrogen and 0.3 mg/l of phosphorous.
Some of those facilities that are required to meet stricter
limits but cannot afford more advanced upgrades still have options. Nutrient
trading programs have been implemented in Pennsylvania
and Virginia
for precisely that reason. These programs encourage facilities to invest in upgrades
with greater nutrient reductions and then sell their excess nutrient credits to
other facilities. This provides plants a cost-effective way to meet the limits
imposed on them to improve water quality if they are lacking the technological
advances.
And remember, you can do your part to help wastewater
treatment plants reduce nutrient discharge too. Two easy steps are conserving
your water so the facilities have less water to treat and switching to low- or
no-phosphorous dish detergents. For more information, check out our Wastewater
Treatment page.
Do you have a question about the Chesapeake Bay? Please send it to us through our web comment form. Your question might be chosen for our next BayBlog Question of the Week!
Seasons of the Chesapeake
Autumn makes you think of pumpkin pie, hot apple cider and
the earthy smell of fallen leaves. I am
thankful we get to experience all four seasons here in the Chesapeake
region – even though I’m not as fond of the ice storms winter brings to us in Maryland.
Below are satellite snapshots of the Chesapeake
Bay during each season. It
is amazing how the landscape changes from spring to summer to fall to
winter.
See what the Chesapeake
looks like today by visiting NASA's
website.
BayBlog Question of the Week: Do I Live in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed?
Welcome to the third installment of our newest feature, the
BayBlog Question of the Week. Each week we'll take a question submitted through
the Chesapeake Bay Program
website and answer it here for all to read.
This week's question comes from Sacha:
“My husband and I just recently bought a house in Gainesville, Virginia,
and were told that the creek that runs on our property is part of the
watershed. I’d like to know how I can find out if that is true and if it is,
where I can get more information on what that means for us as property owners.”
Your creek is, in fact, part of the Chesapeake
Bay watershed. As you can see in this
map, Gainesville, Virginia,
lies within the Potomac River watershed, and the Potomac River flows to the Chesapeake Bay.
The Chesapeake Bay watershed covers more than 64,000 square
miles in the states of Delaware, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia
and West Virginia, as well as the District of Columbia, and contains thousands of creeks,
streams and rivers that all eventually drain to the Chesapeake
Bay. But no matter where you are, every creek or stream is a part
of a watershed -- it’s just a matter of finding out which one.
If you want to find out which watershed you live in, start
off by going to the Environmental
Protection Agency’s “Surf Your Watershed” site and plug in your zip code,
city, or even the name of the stream itself. The site will then generate
information for you about your specific watershed, including:
- The
name of the watershed
- The
congressional districts within the watershed
- The
names of citizen-based groups working in the watershed
- Water
quality monitoring data
- Links
to environmental websites dealing with that watershed
- A link
to the National Watershed Network
- An
assessment of the watershed’s health
- Information
from the United States Geological Survey including stream flow, science in
that area and water use data
- A list
of places included in the watershed (counties, cities, states and other
watersheds upstream and downstream)
As property owners, it is important to learn about this
information so you are aware of the health of the water near where you live.
You also might want to look into the citizen groups
that work in your watershed to help improve or maintain the health of your local
waterway. Volunteering with your local watershed group is a great way to help
the environment and the Chesapeake Bay.
With that information, check out our Help the Bay
section, which details dozens of ways you can make a difference around your
home and backyard to help the Chesapeake Bay and
your local stream.
The health of the Chesapeake Bay
begins with the health of every creek or stream that flows into it. So treat
your local waterways well, and the Chesapeake
will one day follow!
Do you have a question about the Chesapeake Bay? Please send it to us through our web comment form. Your question might be chosen for our next BayBlog Question of the Week!
BayBlog Question of the Week: How was the Chesapeake Bay formed?
Welcome to the second installment of our newest feature, the BayBlog Question of the Week. Each week we'll take a question submitted through the Chesapeake Bay Program website and answer it here for all to read.
This week's question comes from Samantha. She asked:
What forces of nature caused the Chesapeake Bay to form?
The Chesapeake Bay as we know it today took on its current shape about 3,000 years ago, but its geologic history can be traced back about 35 million years. Around this time, a rare bolide, or a comet-like object from space, impacted the Earth. This impact did not create the Bay, but it did contribute to natural processes that eventually formed the Bay as we see it today.
The bolide collided with the Earth near what we now call Cape Charles, Virginia, on the lower tip of the Delmarva Peninsula, and created a crater. The crater is thought to have been as large as Rhode Island and as deep as the Grand Canyon. According to this article from National Geographic News, the impact of the bolide led to tsunamis and the decimation of marine life in the surrounding areas. The crater lay beneath sand, silt and clay for millions of years before it was discovered.
It was about 18,000 years ago when the Bay really began to form, as glaciers from the last Ice Age began to melt. During this time period, mile-thick glaciers existed as far south as Pennsylvania and the Atlantic coastline at that time reached about 180 miles farther east than it does today. As the glaciers melted, they carved rivers and streams flowing toward the coast and sea level rose continually. This led to the eventual submersion of what we know now as the Susquehanna River Valley.
History is rich in the Chesapeake Bay; evidence of the ancient Susquehanna River can still be found in a few deep troughs that form a channel along a large portion of the Bay’s bottom. But the Chesapeake’s 3,000 year history in its present shape does not mean there haven’t been changes. In fact, the Bay is constantly changing due to the forces of erosion and sediment transport.
For more information about the history of the Chesapeake Bay, visit our Bay History and Bay Geology pages.
Do you have a question about the Chesapeake Bay? Please send it to us through our web comment form. Your question might be chosen for our next BayBlog Question of the Week!
BayBlog Question of the Week: Balloons and the Bay
We're starting a new feature here on the BayBlog called the BayBlog Question of the Week. Each week we'll take a question submitted through the Chesapeake Bay Program website and answer it here for all to read.
This week's question comes from Elaine. She asked:
I would like to use balloons as promotional give-aways, but I am concerned for the environment. What is your position on balloons and the environment?
The Chesapeake Bay Program does not have an official position on balloons and the environment. I did some research on this topic and found that releasing balloons into the air is the issue that can have environmental consequences. When balloons are released into the air and eventually deflate, they can fall back to earth and become litter on our ground and in our waterways. In this 2004 Baltimore Sun article, a staff member with the National Aquarium in Baltimore noted that animals such as fish, gulls, dolphins and sea turtles can confuse deflated balloons with food.
If you decide to use balloons as promotional giveaways, perhaps you could include a note that encourages users to dispose of the balloons properly and not intentionally release them into the air. Because we all love balloons -- we just don't want them to become litter, or worse, food for wildlife and aquatic life in the Chesapeake Bay and other waterways.
And remember, if you're outside and you see a deflated balloon lying on the ground or in a tree, pick it up! We all need to do our part to help keep litter out of our parks, beaches and waterways.
Do you have a question about the Chesapeake Bay? Please send it to us through our web comment form. Your question might be chosen for our next BayBlog Question of the Week!
Find Bay events and trip ideas in Chesapeake Trips and Tips
If you're looking for Chesapeake Bay-related day trips for you and your family, check out Chesapeake Trips and Tips, a new weekly e-mail from the Friends of the Chesapeake Bay Gateways Network with events taking place throughout the Chesapeake Bay watershed during the upcoming weekend. This week's edition of Chesapeake Trips and Tips includes a festival in Baltimore, an Eastern Shore bull and oyster roast, and a reenactment of the 1774 Yorktown Tea Party.
And remember,you can always visit baygateways.net for ideas for day trips and weekend getaways around the Chesapeake Bay region. The Gateways Network includes 160 parks, museums, water trails, historic sites and other spots that show the local area's connection to the Chesapeake's culture, history and environment. So get out there and explore the Bay!