The Chesapeake Bay is a precious national resource and is important to the people of the Nanticoke watershed because the Nanticoke River is included in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.  It's important not only for the many fish, crabs and oysters that live in its waters, but also for the aesthetic qualities its magnificent waterways offer.   Unfortunately, this resource is threatened.  Portions of the bay and its tidal waters have been listed under the Clean Water Act as being impaired. This is due mainly to low dissolved oxygen concentrations and other problems caused by excessive nutrients.

Fortunately, steps are being taken to improve the quality of this treasured resource.  The Chesapeake Bay Program (CBP) has been working on issues in the Bay since 1983.  In June 2000, the CBP and its partners committed themselves to the goal of having the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries removed from the list of impaired waters by 2010.  To reach this goal many changes will need to be made to reverse the impacts that hundreds of years of man’s influence have caused.  The CBP, its partners and stakeholders, including Delaware, spent the last few years defining the water quality criteria necessary to protect aquatic living resources.   The next step is to have the states implement and enforce those criteria as part of their water quality standards, helping to improve water quality throughout the entire region.

With the cooperation of the adjoining states (Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York), and Washington DC, many water quality improvement efforts are under way.  The goal is to have a coordinated effort between all entities in the implementation and enforcement of regulations.  Currently, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia are in the process of adopting and implementing the criteria recommended by the Chesapeake Bay program.   Delaware recently held a public workshop as part of its Triennial Review covering water quality standards.  An important part of the workshop was a presentation by the Chesapeake Bay Program covering the development of their recommended criteria.  You can click here to obtain Information about the standards process in Delaware.  More Information about the Chesapeake Bay Criteria is also available from the EPA's web site.

Delaware is the first state to hold public hearings and a workshop on the new critera.  We're well on the way to leadership in this process!

The proposed regulations include criteria that protect spawning grounds and submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) habitat in the Nanticoke River and Broad Creek. These waterways are essential as migratory fish spawning grounds and nurseries.  Dissolved oxygen and the water clarity are the main issues of concern in ensuring the quality of this habitat.  SAV provides food and shelter for fish eggs and newly hatched, requiring enough sunlight to grow, and the fish need appropriate amounts of dissolved oxygen in the water for their survival.

Plants need enough light to get through the water column to their leaves to live. High algae levels and sediments in the water column can block light, preventing submerged plant survival.  To ensure these plants have enough light, the CBP recommends that states adopt light transmission or clarity criteria.

One of the many challenges to developing criteria is that the conditions that the fish and other aquatic life need vary throughout the year.  In the spring, tidal streams are used by fish for spawning and as nurseries.  This requires higher levels of dissolved oxygen than in the fall when the fish have matured or moved into deeper waters.  The recommended criteria for tidal Chesapeake waters take these differing needs into account by recommending higher dissolved oxygen levels from February 1st to May 31st and different, but equally protective, criteria during the rest of the year.

Algae are an important food source for fish.  An “algal bloom” occurs when there is too much algae as a result of high nutrient levels in the water.  It may seem that food is more readily available during algal blooms, but blooms can actually cause fish distress by reducing dissolved oxygen and plant stress by blocking sunlight.   One measure of the abundance of algae is the level of chlorophyll-a in the water.  The CBP program has recommended implementing criteria that restrict chlorophyll-a levels so that ecologically undesirable consequences don’t occur.

If all of these criteria can be met then living aquatic resources should be protected, and the Bay waters can be removed from the impaired list. It is going to take a lot of work from a variety of groups, including the Chesapeake Bay Program, the surrounding states, and especially you. Below is a list of things taken from the Chesapeake Bay Program web site that you can do to help in the protection of this valuable resource:

• Always use pumpout stations to dispose of boat waste.
• Avoid vegetated shallows when planning dredging or pier construction.
• Participate in citizen water quality monitoring.
• Help environmental organizations plant Bay grasses.
• Be a responsible boater and avoid disturbing Bay grass beds. Propellers and impellers may tear rooted vegetation out of bottom sediments.
• Use environmentally friendly landscaping techniques that require less fertilizer, prevent erosion, and utilize native plants. This helps prevent sediments and nutrients from reaching Bay waters.
• Use your car and other gasoline engines less. Their exhaust contains nitrous oxides which pollute Chesapeake Bay and its rivers
• Know and abide by all fisheries regulations.
• Report violations of fisheries regulations.
• Practice catch and release fishing.
• Return tags from tagged fish promptly to proper tagging programs.
• Know how to properly handle fish.
• Dispose of all trash properly.

Working together, we can all help improve water quality throughout the entire Chesapeake Bay region.  We welcome your efforts.