¥ Create a strong and enforceable limit on nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment entering the Bay.
¥ Start requiring specific limits for nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment pollution in municipal storm-water permits.
¥ Deny the issuance of permits for sewage plants, factories, power plants, construction projects and other potential sources of additional nutrient pollution.
The Chesapeake Bay Foundation is scheduled to release a report Tuesday criticizing the Environmental Protection Agency for not enforcing pollution laws, leading to a rise in illness and contamination in the ailing Chesapeake Bay.
“The clean water laws are not being enforced and that is putting human health at risk,” Bay Foundation President William Baker told The Examiner. “At the minimum, we want the EPA to enforce the laws that are already on the books.”
In May, the federal government stepped in to the region’s Bay cleanup effort with an executive order from President Barack Obama and a goal that all cleanup would be under way by 2025. Previous failed efforts over the past 25 years forced the government to step in.
The foundation, which advocates for the Bay’s cleanup, detailed five pollutants that officials are especially concerned about.
Vibrio, a bacteria that can cause life-threatening skin and blood infections and intestinal illnesses, most often comes from air pollution from power plants, factories and vehicles. It is usually acquired by getting contaminated water in an open wound.
The number of Vibrio cases is tiny but growing, the Bay foundation said. In Virginia, the number of cases rose from 12 in 1999 to 30 in 2008. A similar increase was reported in Maryland.
By comparison, hundreds of people swim in the Bay at Sandy Point State Park every day during the summer.
The study also details the effects of cyanobacteria, which is a type of blue-green algae, the bacterium cryptosporidium and high levels of nitrates in Chesapeake runoff water.
The study includes graphic stories and photographs of Bay visitors who spent time in hospitals recovering from bacterial infections that ate their skin and caused 105 degree fevers in some cases.
“In Maryland and Virginia the law is not being enforced,” Baker said.
Jeff Lape, director of the Chesapeake Bay Program for the EPA, said that he thinks it’s clear that his organization and others need to focus more on the Bay.
“We need to step up and do more,” he said. “Our collective efforts have been good, but not good enough.”
Advisories warning of fish contaminated with mercury are not advertised enough, according to the study’s authors. The foundation also says many fishermen “are not fully aware of public health risks.”
Richard Eskin, director of sciences services for the Maryland Department for the Environment, said that the department always wants better outreach but that they do a good job of keeping citizens informed about unsanitary fishing environments.
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