Evaluating the effects of Superstorm Sandy on the Chesapeake Bay
Photographer: WMAR
Copyright 2012 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Posted: 11/01/2012
So how do watermen deal with all of the debris headed further downstream?
ABC2 News' Don Harrison talked with people who work further down the bay to find out.
I'm at the Chesapeake Bay Bridge.
The waters that feed into here and effect the bay are the Severn River, the Magothy, and the Chester River.
But even a greater effect comes North of here, the Conowingo Dam.
Joe Cap has worked on the Bay for more than 20 years.
He knows it's not just the water at the upper bay that gets pushed down here when they release the dam water.
Any rain fall and run off from Pennsylvania and New York is part of the water we are dealing with when it floods.
Sediment gets trapped behind the dam and is "flushed" over the dame when they open the gates.
Some wonder if there is a better way to handle the sediment run off.
"Seems it would make better sense to try to dispose of it before they dump it into the bay."
"We have a three year study."
Bruce Michael is with the Department of Natural Resources and says they are looking into better ways to deal with the sediment trapped behind the dam.
He says this release of water should not be as bad as in years past, but the sediment does effect the bay fishery.
"It clouds the water doesn't let the sunlight get through to the grasses and uses up the available oxygen."
All in all, it effects us a lot.
Mike Middletown works on the bay and he hopes this won't be like last year.
"It pretty much shut us down, the fish disappear and we sit at home and do nothing."
Department of Natural Resource scientist are testing the bay waters now to see how the release of the water will effect the bay.
It will be several weeks before D.N.R. gets the results of the water testing.
Copyright 2012 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
PRINT
Special Reports
-
Digging into day care discipline
Woman whose child care license was revoked sheds light on state's discipline process.
-
Local shops sell years old tires as new
Flip open the dictionary to the word new and you'll see Webster says it means, “Having existed or having been made but a short time."
-
Dangers of online dating battled w/ apps
At first it seemed to be just a house fire in the 5700 block of Highgate Drive in Northwest Baltimore.
Top Stories
-
So. Anne Arundel Co. hit with flooding
Southern Anne Arundel Co. gets hit with flooding on roads and around homes.
-
Charges dropped against officer charged
-
Men charged with stealing car batt
-
Orioles call up Ishikawa, Britton
-
Subsidy cuts would jeopardize service
-
Hardware store in Harford County burns
- Stay Connected
