Bay Barometer: A Health and Restoration Assessment of the Chesapeake Bay and Watershed in 2009 Factors Impacting Health 040810 1 Factors Impacting Bay.

Bay Barometer: A Health and Restoration Assessment of the Chesapeake Bay and Watershed in 2009Factors Impacting Health 040810 1

Factors Impacting Bay & Watershed Health

Bay Barometer: A Health and Restoration Assessment of the Chesapeake Bay and Watershed in 2009Factors Impacting Health 040810 2

Pollutants

Bay Barometer: A Health and Restoration Assessment of the Chesapeake Bay and Watershed in 2009Factors Impacting Health 040810 3

Nitrogen Loads and River Flow to the Bay

Bay Barometer: A Health and Restoration Assessment of the Chesapeake Bay and Watershed in 2009Factors Impacting Health 040810 4

Phosphorus Loads and River Flow to the Bay

Bay Barometer: A Health and Restoration Assessment of the Chesapeake Bay and Watershed in 2009Factors Impacting Health 040810 5

Sediment Loads and River Flow to the Bay

• Provisional estimates indicate that 2 million tons of sediment reached the Bay during the 2009 water year (October 2008-September 2009). This is 1.6 million tons less than 2008 and 2 million tons less than the 4 million ton average load from 1990-2009.

• The sediment load estimates do not account for sediment from the coastal plain areas of the watershed.

• Scientists are currently developing methods to quantify the total loads of sediment to the Bay.

Bay Barometer: A Health and Restoration Assessment of the Chesapeake Bay and Watershed in 2009Factors Impacting Health 040810 6

Chemical Contaminant Loads to the Bay

• Synthetic organic pesticides and their degradation products have been widely detected at low levels in the watershed, including emerging contaminants such as pharmaceuticals and hormones.

• Fish (principally male bass) in the Potomac watershed have testicular oocytes - female eggs growing in their testes - a form of intersex. Reproductive abnormalities in fish have been strongly linked with a variety of contaminants that affect the endocrine systems of fish.

• Scientists are currently developing methods to quantify chemical contaminant loads to the Bay.

Bay Barometer: A Health and Restoration Assessment of the Chesapeake Bay and Watershed in 2009Factors Impacting Health 040810 7

Land Use

*Not quantified in relation to a goal

Bay Barometer: A Health and Restoration Assessment of the Chesapeake Bay and Watershed in 2009Factors Impacting Health 040810 8

Bay Watershed Population

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Bay Watershed Forest Cover

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Natural Factors

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River Flow into Chesapeake Bay

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Weather

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-*Not quantified in relation to a goal

• Rainfall, temperature and winds have a great impact on water quality, habitats and fish and shellfish populations.

• Climate change and variability have caused water temperatures in the Bay to exhibit greater extremes during the 20th century than the previous 2,000 years.

• Sea-level rise related to climate change is contributing to the loss of vital coastal wetlands.

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Other Pressures