V-271 



SECTION 3. MAJOR PROBLEMS AND DANGERS TO THE BAY 



We have already noted in some detail two of the increasing problem 



areas of the Chesapeake, namely, waste loading and thermal pollution. 



Others that must be considered in current and future planning are 



as follow: 



(1) The use of the Chesapeake Bay for maritime shipping 

 results in local nuisance conditions from oil spills and 

 overboard waste disposal. The major impact of the ship- 

 ping industry is the dredging and spoil-disposal problems. 

 The Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, a favored route for the 

 Port of Baltimore, required an extensive dredging program 

 in the upper Bay with attendant spoil disposal problems. 

 Demand already exists for further deepening of the ship- 

 ping channels. 



The disposal of spoil in the Bay becomes of increasing con- 

 cern. With the filling of deeper trenches, less salt water 

 is able to move up the estuary in the two-layer system, 

 changing the environment. The estuary is a natural sediment 

 trap with most of the runoff materials deposited within it^ 

 with very little reaching the Continental Shelf. Spoil dis- 

 posal practices of large magnitude will greatly accelerate 

 the filling of deeper trenches of the Bay, not of immediate 

 concern for shipping, but possibly significant in its effects 

 on hydrography and ecology. The deep trenches are known to 

 be wintering areas for certain commercial finfishes. 



