Chesapeake Bay Journal

Bay region leaders and cleanup activists from around the watershed are hoping that a new federal highway bill can put the brakes on stormwater runoff into the Chesapeake.

Their goal is to require that any new or reconstructed highways using federal money install state-of-the-art stormwater controls to protect local streams and ultimately the Bay.

During the 1990s, the amount of impervious surfaces in the Bay watershed increased 41 percent while the overall population grew by only 8 percent. Much of that increase was driven by road construction.

While pollution from other major sources-agriculture, wastewater treatment plants and air pollution-is thought to be declining, runoff from urban and suburban areas continues to increase as more land is developed, spurring more road construction.

Trumpeter swans may again grace Bay's waters: If there is a creature whose sheer presence suggests that humans are ungraceful, needlessly hurried-and perhaps even less evolved-it would be the swan.

Spring shad numbers up in Susquehanna, down in Potomac: This spring's shad runs brought remarkably mixed results-and some new concerns-in the Bay's tributaries, with some showing increases in migrating shad, while others stayed the same or declined.

Review of past oyster research reveals lack of coordination : A group of scientists recently reviewed the results from hundreds of oyster restoration projects that took place over the last 18 years. They found a lot less than they expected.

Bay's geography means that not every pound of pollution needs a pound of cure: When a pound of nitrogen washes off the streets of Bowie, MD, and into the Patuxent River, almost every ounce will end up in the Chesapeake's tidal waters.

Congress told about impact of global warming on Bay, coastal communities: The small Bayside town of North Beach on Maryland's lower Western Shore was founded in 1910 and its economy has been built around the beach for which it is named.

Paper or plastic? Both will soon cost 5 cents in D.C.: Shoppers using paper or plastic bags to haul home their groceries will face a 5 cent fee in the District of Columbia for each bag they use, as the district joins the small but growing number of U.S. cities targeting disposable bags as a way to reduce trash.

USGS study suggests link between kills, intersex fish: Some of the same pollutants that apparently cause male fish in the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers to exhibit female characteristics may also leave them vulnerable to disease and large-scale fish kills, according to a new study.