Anne Arundel must control sprawl and stop razing forests to save the Chesapeake Bay, according to a former state senator and environmental activist.
As the county?s population swells, forests are being replaced with rooftops and parking lots, which are major contributors to runoff pollution that has led to poor water quality in the Bay, said Gerald Winegrad, a professor of Bay studies at the University of Maryland, College Park.
“We may never see the Bay better than it is now, and that?s the hard truth,” said Winegrad, who served in the General Assembly for 16 years.
The Annapolis resident said Anne Arundel has lost more than 42,000 acres of forest ? the most of any other county in the region.
The region is behind goals set by the Chesapeake Bay Program in reducing sediment and nitrogen, and phosphorous emissions ? those caused by runoff ? by 2010. The Bay Program is a regional partnership formed in 1983 that monitors the Bay?s health.
Winegrad?s presentation preceded the County Council?s deliberations on a bill to create a new fee levied on homebuilders who add impervious surfaces, such as parking lots and rooftops, which contribute to runoff pollution.
That fund could generate about $5 million annually, but county public works officials said there is a $1.3 billion backlog of stream restoration projects.
Winegrad?s presentation echoed a recent report by The Chesapeake Bay Foundation, which said runoff pollution has led to decreasing dissolved-water oxygen levels and massive fish kills.
Councilman Edward Middlebrooks, R-District 2, asked why Anne Arundel should be singled out when industries in Baltimore City “have massive pipes dumping gallons” of polluted water into the Bay.
Winegrad said the county needs to hire an inspector and purchase a boat to find water and zoning infractions along the rivers, and develop a better growth management plan.
