BALTIMORE - Heavy rains and a hot summer harmed the Chesapeake Bay's health last year, earning it the second worst grade on a yearly report card issued Tuesday by the University of Maryland's Center for Environmental Science.
The center gave the bay a D+ in 2011, scoring only slightly better than in 2003, the worst year for bay health since the assessments began in 1986. Heavy spring and fall rains washed pollutants and sediments into the bay, and a hot, dry summer spurred algae blooms that lower oxygen levels.
Flood waters from Tropical Storm Lee brought up to an inch and a half of sediment into the upper bay. Water clarity, meanwhile, continued to decline along with losses in bay grasses. Only two regions _ the lower western shore of the bay, which got a C, and the Patapsco and Back Rivers improved, but still got a D-. The rest declined or remained the same.
1 comment:
I can understand a poor grade.If all the money that was stolen,I mean conficated or taxed from Marylanders was used with a purpose and direction we may have had different results.Except for having some meetings,some expensive lunches and making a few public announcements where has the Omalley save the bay money gone?
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