What would you like in your water?

What would you like in your water?

Lemon? Perhaps. But you are likely to get much more. Sewage from overtaxed and outdated sewer systems. Runoff from city streets. Excess fertilizer from suburban lawns. Manure from farm animals. All of this runs into our rivers and streams and, for much of the state, eventually winds up in the Chesapeake Bay.

It's actually pretty amazing that our sewage treatment plants are able to clean up our water so that it's drinkable. But we haven't been able to protect our rivers and streams for swimming and boating, and fish are getting scarce. And the further downstream you go, the worse the problems are.

Getting the Chesapeake Bay healthy again means we have to restore the health of the Juniata, Conodoguinet, Octoraro, Loyalsock and Susquehanna rivers and their tributaries, which flow into the Bay. It's going to take work and targeted investments, but the payoff will be felt throughout the Pennsylvania, and all the way down to the Bay.

This problem isn't new. In fact, our entire region has been promising to fix it for more than 25 years. Unfortunately, those promises have mostly just been promises, without much action. And the Chesapeake Bay and all the waters leading into it have gotten dirtier and dirtier.

For too many years, different groups and different regions played the blame game rather than taking responsibility for the harm they caused to the Bay. Those finger pointing days are now over, and there are three new strategies and new funding so that everyone can take this issue on. And rather than rely on promises, the new strategies provide incentives to do the right thing, and penalties for those who don't.

First off, the federal courts have stepped in. There is now a court ordered plan - everyone must go on a pollution diet. All of the states must develop a plan (called a Total Maximum Daily Load, or TMDL) by the end of this year, showing how and where they will cut pollution to avoid going over their pollution cap.

Second, the Obama Administration has issued an Executive Order requiring all the departments of the federal government to develop a far-reaching strategy to protect and improve the Chesapeake Bay. This includes increasing public access, protecting natural resources, improving water quality, adapting to climate change.

Finally, there is comprehensive legislation in Congress that will give everyone involved in fixing the problem much of the funding needed to actually clean up our waters. The Chesapeake Clean Water and Ecosystem Restoration Act, introduced by Sen. Ben Cardin and Rep. Elijah Cummings to expand the Chesapeake Bay cleanup program, will help us stay on our the court-ordered TMDL pollution diet. The bill makes everyone involved accountable for cleanup, and provides federal oversight for restoring clean water in our region. It also uses a market- based approach, rewarding those who meet the pollution reduction goals, and provides $1.5 billion in funding and technical assistance to our farmers and municipalities in order to meet the cleanup goals mandated under the court-ordered TMDL. Unfortunately, no member of the Pennsylvania delegation has agreed to cosponsor this legislation - yet.

The fact is, the TMDL pollution diet is coming, whether this legislation is passed or not. Signing on to the bill will mean we get the funding we desperately need to comply with the courts' order. With it, we'll get technical assistance, but without it, we're on our own. Supporting the bill seems like a no-brainer to us.

After all, wouldn't it be nice to know that the only thing in your water is lemon?


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