Resource information
The Chesapeake Bay is the largest and
historically most productive estuary in the United States.
It is approximately 200 miles long and 35 mile wide at it
broadest point. The Bay's watershed includes parts of
six states (Delaware, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania,
Virginia, West Virginia, and the entire District of
Columbia. This area encompasses 64,000 square-miles, 150
major rivers and streams and has a population of 15.1
million people. It receives half of its water from the
Atlantic Ocean; the rest from rivers, streams and
groundwater sources. Fifty percent of the freshwater coming
into the Bay comes from the Susquehanna River, which starts
in New York State and flows through Pennsylvania and
Maryland. The Chesapeake Bay supports 3,600 species of
plants, fish and animals. It is home to 29 species of
waterfowl, a major resting ground along the Atlantic
Migratory Bird Flyway, and provides winter nesting for over
one million waterfowl. After years of decline, the Bay still
supports number of commercial and recreational fisheries,
producing about 500 million pounds of seafood per annum.
Over the years as its population the watershed grew, use of
agricultural chemicals became widespread and livestock
numbers increased, the water quality in the Bay declined.
Nutrients, sediments and toxic chemicals flowing into the
Bay were decreasing dissolved oxygen, increasing turbidity,
killing-off sea grasses and producing diseases in fish and
shellfish. Research undertaken in the late 1970s and early
1980s determined that the major culprits responsible for the
decline of the Chesapeake Bay's health were the excess
nutrient loads from municipal wastewater plants and from
agriculture and residential lands, the sediment runoff from
agricultural and residential construction, and the high
level of toxic chemicals coming from industry and agriculture.
