Chesapeake Bay
Estuary in the U.S. states of Maryland and Virginia
Follow Chesapeake Bay on Notably News to receive short updates to your email — rarely!
We include updates on Baltimore, Norfolk, Virginia, Annapolis, Maryland, Hampton, Virginia, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Anne Arundel County, Maryland, Baltimore County, Maryland, Southern Colonies, Havre de Grace, Maryland, Chesterfield County, Virginia, Smith Island, Maryland, Severna Park, Maryland, Accomack County, Virginia, Susquehannock, Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Union blockade ... and more.
| 2024 | A heavy rainfall caused the Back River Wastewater Treatment Plant to discharge 14 million gallons of sewage into local Baltimore waterways and the Chesapeake Bay, releasing a year's worth of sewage overflow in a single day. |
| 2023 | University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science rated the Chesapeake Bay's overall health at 55% (C-plus), its highest score since 2002. |
| 2023 | CBF and EPA reached a settlement on the 2020 lawsuit, with EPA agreeing to increase efforts to reduce farm and stormwater runoff pollution in Pennsylvania through compliance and enforcement actions. |
| 2021 | Baltimore completed the $124 million 'Headworks Project' at the Back River wastewater treatment plant, providing additional underground storage to address sanitary sewer overflow (SSO) problems. |
| 2021 | Sewage plants were found to contribute 11% of nitrogen and 15% of phosphorous levels in the Chesapeake Bay. |
| 2021 | Slight improvements in water quality were observed compared to the previous year's indicators. |
| 2020 | Water quality baseline measurement used for comparing subsequent environmental changes. |
| 2020 | Baseline year for water quality measurements used in subsequent environmental assessments. |
| 2020 | The Chesapeake Bay Foundation filed another lawsuit against EPA for not requiring New York and Pennsylvania to comply with TMDL pollution reduction goals. |
| 2019 | Release of 'Expedition Chesapeake, A Journey of Discovery', a film starring Jeff Corwin, created by The Whitaker Center for Science and the Arts to explore and showcase the Chesapeake Bay region. |
| 2018 | Earl Swift published 'Chesapeake Requiem', a New York Times bestselling non-fiction book about the crabbing community of Chesapeake Bay. |
| 2016 | EPA reported that sewage treatment plant upgrades resulted in significant reductions in nitrogen and phosphorus pollution, despite increases in human population and wastewater volume. |
| 2015 | The health of the Chesapeake Bay showed significant improvement, marking three consecutive years of gains over a four-year period. |
| 2014 | Long et al. publish research highlighting how nutrient runoff leads to algal blooms and subsequent oxygen depletion in the bay's waters. |
| 2013 | DC Water began constructing large stormwater storage facilities as part of the 'Clean Rivers' project to address combined sewer overflow (CSO) problems in Washington, D.C. |
| 2012 | Release of 'The Bay', a found footage-style eco-horror film highlighting environmental issues related to Chesapeake Bay, depicting a pandemic caused by pollution from chicken factory farm run-off and mutant aquatic parasites. |
| 2011 | Maryland and Virginia enacted laws to reduce lawn fertilizer effects by restricting nitrogen and phosphorus content. Virginia additionally banned deicers containing urea, nitrogen, or phosphorus. |
| 2011 | The Oyster Recovery Partnership placed 6 million oysters in the Trent Hall sanctuary as part of ongoing restoration efforts. |
| 2011 | The last recorded visit of the manatee 'Chessie' to the Chesapeake Bay, having made multiple trips between 1994 and this year. |
| 2011 | A report is released suggesting future information disclosure about underwater grasses in the Chesapeake Bay, highlighting their ecological importance. |
| January 2011 | Reports of millions of fish dying, with officials attributing the event to extremely cold weather. |
| 2010 | Bay health improved slightly, earning an ecosystem health rating of 31 out of 100, up from 28 in 2008. |
| 2010 | Dead zones in the Chesapeake Bay were estimated to kill 75,000 tons of bottom-dwelling clams and worms annually, severely impacting the bay's food chain and blue crab population. |
| 2010 | A report criticized Amish farmers in Pennsylvania for inadequate manure control, highlighting the significant environmental impact of agricultural practices on the bay's ecosystem. |
| December 29 2010 | EPA issued its most complex Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) document for nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment pollution in the Chesapeake Bay, settling the 2009 lawsuit with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. |
This contents of the box above is based on material from the Wikipedia article Chesapeake Bay, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.