How I killed the Chesapeake Bay

How does this excess nitrogen get there? Some comes from aging sewage plants and septic systems, or from farm field runoff during storms—nitrogen is the active ingredient in industrial-strength fertilizers.

Those same fertilizers are the ones we lace our lawns with. In fact, uncontrolled nitrogen runoff from most residential neighborhoods is worse than runoff from a well-tended field. It washes from our lawns, into the street, and, because of the way we drain our streets, rushes to the nearest stream and on its way to the Bay.

Nitrogen is also a byproduct of fossil fuel burning. About 40 percent of all the nitrogen in Chesapeake Bay falls from the skies. Most airborne nitrogen comes from power plants, but roughly a third comes from vehicle exhaust. When you sit idling in traffic, you’re puffing nitrogen into the Bay.

That’s right. My tailpipe and green backyard, and yours, killed the Bay.

the rest...

http://www.circlevilleherald.com/articles/2009/05/28/opinion/doc4a1e85a070425...


grz-