Rainwater Pollution In The Chesapeake Bay

Rainwater pollution is a problem that affects anyone that benefits economically, residentially, or recreationally from the Chesapeake Bay. This includes people that have businesses that rely on how many aquatic organism they capture to either sell or serve as a meal in their restaurant. Runoff is caused by rainwater that does not percolate into the soil, and it carries chemicals and waste that are then drained into the Bay through the storm drains (“Stormwater Runoff”). Plant nutrients like fertilizers are one of the chemicals that are carried by runoff. The rainwater dumps out nitrogen and phosphorus from the fertilizers into the water. These contaminants directly harm aquatic life by causing eutrophication. The growth of algae is enhanced
Rainwater also carries contaminants like trash, car oil, and animal fecal waste from the streets and roads into the storm drains (“Stormwater Runoff”). All of these pollutants also eventually lead into the Bay. Many of the aquatic organisms may be intoxicated or trapped by the oil and trash. This will lead to the depletion of their populations and consequently affect the other organisms in their food chain, and the humans that rely on them as a source of food (“Stormwater Runoff”). The chemical contaminants affect the population of all sorts of aquatic life in the Chesapeake Bay. For example, the “small bottom dwelling organisms take in the contaminants through skin contact while feeding” (“Chemical Contaminants”). Larger fish then consume the chemically contaminated fish, and accumulate the toxins in their body tissue (“Chemical Contaminants”). Mammals and other wildlife then consume these contaminated fish as the chemicals keep harming the predators of contaminated prey in the food chain (“Chemical Contaminants”). Many Marylanders rely on aquatic organisms, like crab, that they fish from the Chesapeake Bay as a source of income. If the pollution of the Bay is not stopped, the disappearance and contamination of these organisms will bankrupt many entrepreneurs in the state. These aquatic organisms will not be able to survive from the continuous exponential growth of toxins in their ecosystem.
Some of the sources of pollution come from the runoff of nitrogen and phosphorus, which definitely do not come from very populated and dense areas because they do not have space to grow crops and apply these chemically based fertilizers. Agricultural runoff, wastewater, and storm water runoff all play a role in the contamination of the Bay (“Chemical Contaminants”). Therefore, this tax should not only apply to the populous areas, but the agricultural ones as well, which are the ones that input the chemicals that are carried by the runoff on the impervious