40 May/June 2015 Landscape and Irrigation www.landscapeirrigation.com
The Chesapeake Bay is the largest body of water of its kind in the
United States, with more than 150 major rivers and streams from six
states and the District of Columbia flowing into its drainage basin.
It's in trouble, and has been for a long time.
With its stock of crabs and oysters — and businesses that earn
their living from them — declining in numbers, the Chesapeake is
a visible example of what happens when water pollution continues
unabated upstream for decades.
Most would agree that problems with water quality within the
Chesapeake are the outcome of unintentional actions, which were
caused in large part by a collision between aging infrastructure and
population growth. Many cities, especially those settled long ago,
combined stormwater runoff with septic sewer, which in today's
world can mean an increase in volume on both.
More people means more toilets, more showers, and more
washing machines. That's on the septic sewer side. More people
also means more stormwater: More streets and parking lots and
buildings, which increases stormwater runoff since more open
land — where rain and snow melt used to go and be absorbed into
the ground — has been paved over.
More of both, mixed together and feeding into the same pipe,
means more of a burden on sewage treatment plants that were built
when the population was much lower; more of a chance for a toxic
spill into waterways; and ultimately, more cost to the taxpayer.
What's needed is less — and that's what two projects, one to the
north and one to the south of the Chesapeake, have undertaken.
CASE STUDY
Two hardscape projects helping
the Chesapeake Bay
■ BY WALT STEELE
PAVING THE WAY
TO ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE
PHOTOS
PROVIDED
BY
PINE
HALL
BRICK
COMPANY
Susquehanna River project
