"Blog Action Day" Makes Waves for Clean Water
A hard rain is falling this afternoon on the Chesapeake Bay. And whenever this happens, health departments across the region warn people to avoid all contact with the water for two full days.
Why? Rain flushes all kinds of pollution off of our yards, streets, parking lots and farm fields, driving up bacterial levels so high it might be unsafe to swim, wade or kayak.
These warnings have been issued by health departments for years –- and many people don’t know about them, or just ignore them. But I think it is a tragedy that we are warned not to even touch our waters every time it rains. It is something that we should stand up and scream about. According to the 1972 Federal Clean Water Act, our waters, by law, are supposed to be “swimmable” and “fishable” –- and often, they are not.
Tomorrow is an international blog action day to raise awareness of the global water pollution crisis.
Why? Rain flushes all kinds of pollution off of our yards, streets, parking lots and farm fields, driving up bacterial levels so high it might be unsafe to swim, wade or kayak.
These warnings have been issued by health departments for years –- and many people don’t know about them, or just ignore them. But I think it is a tragedy that we are warned not to even touch our waters every time it rains. It is something that we should stand up and scream about. According to the 1972 Federal Clean Water Act, our waters, by law, are supposed to be “swimmable” and “fishable” –- and often, they are not.
Tomorrow is an international blog action day to raise awareness of the global water pollution crisis.
According to United Nations statistics, every day 2 million tons of human waste are released into waterways around the world. In developing countries, 70 percent of industrial wastes are dumped untreated into waters where they pollute the usable water supply.
In the Chesapeake Bay region, this type of pollution – from the discharge pipes of factories or sewage plants – has declined significantly since the 1970s, because of mandates imposed by the Federal Clean Water Act. But runoff pollution, especially from developed lands, continues to grow, and continues to make many of our waterways unswimmable, especially after rains.
One man from suburban Anne Arundel County, Maryland, who went swimming after a rain was Bernie Voith. He took a dip in a tributary of the Severn River with a cut on his leg, during a time when bacteria levels downstream were 30 times what the EPA considers safe for swimming. He contracted a fecal bacteria infection in his leg that erupted into a tomato-sized wound. The bacteria entered his bloodstream and nearly killed him, requiring four months of medical treatment, according to his doctor.
“He was basically almost on the verge of death by the time he was admitted to the hospital,” said his doctor, Dr. Sarah Jamieson.
These kinds of infections from swimming in the Bay are rare. But the fact that they happen at all is an illustration that the “swimmable, fishable” standards of the law are not being consistently met.
The Bay area states recently submitted new pollution reduction plans to the Environmental Protection Agency. In Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, Delaware and West Virginia, these plans were seriously deficient, in part because they didn’t do enough to control runoff pollution, according to EPA. Now the states are rewriting their plans (called “Watershed Implementation Plans” or WIPs) and resubmitting them to the EPA.
Here’s how you can help. Write a letter to the governor of your state and tell him to include strong and specific actions to reduce runoff pollution into the Bay in the state Watershed Implementation Plans. To find out how, visit our web page and click on your state under “Take Action.”
Tell your goveror you are sick of being warned not to even touch the water after a rain.
Click here to find out more about Blog Action Day.
By Tom Pelton
Chesapeake Bay Foundation
One man from suburban Anne Arundel County, Maryland, who went swimming after a rain was Bernie Voith. He took a dip in a tributary of the Severn River with a cut on his leg, during a time when bacteria levels downstream were 30 times what the EPA considers safe for swimming. He contracted a fecal bacteria infection in his leg that erupted into a tomato-sized wound. The bacteria entered his bloodstream and nearly killed him, requiring four months of medical treatment, according to his doctor.
“He was basically almost on the verge of death by the time he was admitted to the hospital,” said his doctor, Dr. Sarah Jamieson.
These kinds of infections from swimming in the Bay are rare. But the fact that they happen at all is an illustration that the “swimmable, fishable” standards of the law are not being consistently met.
The Bay area states recently submitted new pollution reduction plans to the Environmental Protection Agency. In Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, Delaware and West Virginia, these plans were seriously deficient, in part because they didn’t do enough to control runoff pollution, according to EPA. Now the states are rewriting their plans (called “Watershed Implementation Plans” or WIPs) and resubmitting them to the EPA.
Here’s how you can help. Write a letter to the governor of your state and tell him to include strong and specific actions to reduce runoff pollution into the Bay in the state Watershed Implementation Plans. To find out how, visit our web page and click on your state under “Take Action.”
Tell your goveror you are sick of being warned not to even touch the water after a rain.
Click here to find out more about Blog Action Day.
By Tom Pelton
Chesapeake Bay Foundation
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