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The Susquehanna River flows through Harrisburg, Pa., on its long trip through New York and Pennsylvania to reach Maryland, where it empties into the Chesapeake Bay.
CAROLYN KASTER/ASSOCIATED PRESS
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The Susquehanna is a large source of Chesapeake Bay woes
Date published: 4/22/2008
Watermen should cast a wider net as they contemplate litigation against the commonwealth ["Watermen might sue state over dirty Bay," April 11].
The watermen should include Pennsylvania and New York state within the litigation net.
Even if Virginia, Maryland, and the District of Columbia were able to shut off all their sources of Chesapeake Bay pollution by this time tomorrow morning, the Bay would continue to degrade.
Why? The Susquehanna River. One of the longest rivers on the Eastern seaboard, the Susquehanna has its headwaters in Otsego Lake, central New York state. It winds through the Appalachian Mountains in New York, Pennsylvania, and Maryland before flowing into the head of Chesapeake Bay at Havre de Grace, Md.
The Susquehanna River is about 444 miles long--little of which is tidal--and drains an area of 27,570 square miles. By contrast, the Potomac River (383 miles long, 117 miles tidal) drains an area of approximately 14,500 square miles.
The James River, including its Jackson River source, is 410 miles long (tidal downstream from Richmond) and drains an area of 10,432 square miles.
Neither New York nor Pennsylvania is subject to federal rules governing Chesapeake Bay pollution. Neither of those states has adopted clean-water rules to address specifically Chesapeake Bay pollution.
Yet the drainage of a river within their borders that empties into the Chesapeake Bay exceeds the combined drainage areas of the James River and the Potomac River by 2,638 square miles.
New York and Pennsylvania are the biggest polluters of the Chesapeake Bay.
Charter Wells Jr.
Spotsylvania
Date published: 4/22/2008
Most recent reader comments:
The point of the letter
(posted by
wideopenspace
, Apr. 22, 2008 6:52 pm)
was that VA, MD and DC can do all they want to clean up the bay and it's tributaries, it will still be polluted from a source further north unless MD catches it before it gets down to us. You seemed to miss that Tamerlane, read the 3rd sentence again. Us, MD and DC need to get after the feds to help us out with PA and NY and whomever else has rivers and streams leading to the Bay.
Its true
(posted by
Fredtastic
, Apr. 22, 2008 12:13 pm)
I agree with some of what Mr. Wells has said. It is a huge part of the problem - but its also the biggest tributary. Its expected. Tamerlane is right in that this doesn't negate the responsibility of VA to clean up their tributaries into the bay. The political will power to clean up the bay is weak in the state of VA.
Another non-fact-filled empirical piece
(posted by
Tamerlane
, Apr. 22, 2008 8:01 am)
that smells of non-point source pollution (cow flop). Any more letters like this and they can form an organization: Virginians who refuse to take responsibility for their own state. Where's the data? PA, MD and NY have at least tried to comply w the CB Act. VA is near bottom on any National index of pollution control Rember Smithfield? VA does not give a tinker's damn about clean water.
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