464 



Waste disposal 



The Baltimore-Washington metropolitan complex contained 3,771,000 people 

 in 1960, with an expected doubling time of 25 years. While vast and expensive 

 systems are under constuction for collection of the wastes fom this population 

 and treatment to remove pathogenic bacteria and solids, almost no attention is 

 given to the effects of pouring increasing quantities of nitrogen and phosphous 

 into the bay and its tributaries. Brehmer . . . points out that the use of the 

 Potomac River as the final treatment stage in the Washington disposal system 

 releases 8 million pounds of phosphorus and 25 million pounds of nitrogen 

 annually into the estuary. Doubling of this quantity is predicted within 30 years, 

 and the estuary is already badly damaged. . . . 



Thermal pollution is very rapidly increasing as power companies 

 move to the large volumes of low-corrosion water of the estuaries. 

 There is a complex of some 16 relatively small plants in existence now 

 with rapid baywide proliferation proposed for the near future. The 

 new seven stations planned are designed to produce about 1 million 

 kilowatts each and to use about 1 million gallons of water per minute 

 for condenser cooling, with a rise of 10-12° F. Some will be twice that 

 large. 



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 

 follows : 



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

 in local nuisance conditions from oil spills and overboard waste dis- 

 posal. The major impact of the shipping industry is the dredging and 

 spoil-disposal problems. The Chesapeake & 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 deeping of the shipping channels. 



The disposal of spoil in the bay becomes of increasing concern. 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 disposal 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. More recently the problem of the toxic nature of 

 spoil from industrialized Baltimore Harbor has raised the question of 

 immediate toxic effects in disposal areas. 



(2) Altered salinity patterns in the bay are due to diversion of 

 fresh water to the Delaware Basin through the deepened Chesapeake 

 and Delaware Canal and because of increased potable water needs in 

 the Delaware Basin. The use of the Susequehanna River at the Cono- 

 wingo Dam for hydroelectric purposes causes problems of low flow 

 with the resultant intrusion of salinity further up the bay. 



(3) Aquatic plants such as wild celery, coontail, sea lettuce, Euras- 

 ian milfoil, and water chestnut have been found in the Chesapeake 

 Bay Area. At times some of these aquatic plants have increased in 



