If I were a farmer

[5th Tuition]

Well; I bit the bullet and put my boat in the slip on Bodkin Creek. Last year it was in the slip for about 2 weeks until I realized how good the fishing was south of us at the "False Channel". This year, I have been waiting for the "Sewage Spill" to disapate to the point where the white bottom of the boat doesn't turn brown.

Well; I took a little run last night to check out some areas for fish. I ran into Mike, who was out in his Shamrock just outside the Bodkin. I know Mike has said the water wasn't that bad in previous posts, but I gotta tell ya, compared to the water off CB, it's bad. You could still see little "tide lines" of brown froth in lots of areas. One time, I looked over the side of my boat to see big brown bubbles clinging to the sides on a drift while jigging (yuck).

Now to me; it seems we haven't had an excessive amount of rain to wash nutrients into the bay from farmers fields. I still have to attribute the poor water quality and alge blooms to the sewage spill. Farmers have to plant buffers and decrease the fertilizer used in production, yet the government (both State and Local) just say "OOPS" when they dump 50 million gallons of sewage in the bay.

In the Md Gazzette today, they speak of a study to evaluate the "bubble" system in Rock Creek. They have a system where two pumps run air through a hose on the bottom of the creek and aireate the creek. Residents say it has helped and rids the creek of the smell of "rotten eggs". The system has been in place for several years and is not currently operating at peake performance. It would cost $250,000 to replace the system. So what do we do, we spend $150,000 on a study to see if the system is doing any good. Then we will spend $250,000 more to replace it. Seems like we have a bunch of "turds" holding the purse strings of the County as well.

Looks like it's not just the farmers who are damaging the bay; in fact, they may be the smaller component. Sooo. if I were a farmer, I'd be pissed.

5th (Marty)

[5th Tuition]

I was telling my wife about the "study" and the possible need to replace the bubble system in rock creek; and she asked "Why not take the 150,000 plus the 250,000 ($400,000) and fix the pumping station that causes the problem?".

I had no answer for her. I don't know if $400,000 would fix the pumping station, but it might. Heck, you might even be able to build another station with $400,000.

Oh, Oh, Oh, I know. If we hook up the air bubbling system to windmills, it would be "Green Energy" and the county would not have to pay for it. The Feds would jump at it.
Hell, why not build wind powered water treatment systems up and down the bay. With the use of wind, we could have a plant that sucks dirty water from the bay into a filtering system that removes the algea and sediment, and then pumps clean water out the other side. It would be like a "Big Oyster". Obama want us to use algae as an alternative fuel, maybe we could burn off the algae to make the system self sufficient.
Come on all you future engineers of the world, help design something to save the Chesapeake Bay.

I know the PSG got together with the midshipmen from the Naval Academy to help design the fishing pier at Downs Park, maybe we could get them involved in a project like the "Big Oyster".
Sounds interesting to me. I might have to approach PSG or Naval Academy myself.
5th (Marty)

p.s. Sorry to be rambling, but I feel like that Native American (my daughter would be so proud of me for not saying Indian) that was on the old commercial on TV that had a tear running down his cheek because of all the pollution he saw.

[Skip]

Marty , I thought same thing about the $150,000.00 for a study.

Bet it could be done for $1,000.00 by using local volunteers. I'll put money people who live on the creek would do the sampling.

Many water troubles are due to low O2 levels - pumping O2 into the creek at bottom sure can not hurt any thing. They need $150,000.00 to prove this ?


Be great to see solar panels used to power the pumps.

[Mark]

Marty,
I agree with your wife...having lived on Rock Creek in the past, I gotta say that bubbler system doesn't do crap. That end of Rock Creek is the nastiest, most stagnant, brown water year round. we used to trotline just up the creek from it and if we got too close to that area the crabbing would shut off. Hope they save the money on both accounts...

[Bug Guy]

Skip,

Originally Posted by Skip

...Bet it could be done for $1,000.00 by using local volunteers. I'll put money people who live on the creek would do the sampling...

You'd think so, but experience has shown that volunteers generally do a poor job of collecting data because 1) they quickly tire of the work (don't work in the rain, go on vacation, etc.) and 2) they don't understand the system enough to consistently take the proper measures/readings/etc. required. In some cases, local people care a lot and do a great job, but not always.

Originally Posted by Skip

...Many water troubles are due to low O2 levels - pumping O2 into the creek at bottom sure can not hurt any thing. They need $150,000.00 to prove this ?

Actually, high oxygen can cause problems. Certain bacterial processes that help rid the water of Nitrogen require low oxygen (denitrification). If these processes are screwed up, the rivers (which drain over fertilized lawns) could end up doing more damage to the bay than if they were left alone.

This type of hard engineering for remediation is somewhat controversial. Scientists are generally split on the idea, but architects and engineers love it because it means more work (and money) for them.

It would be a guess, but I'd assume any significant upgrades to a treatment plant would costs in the millions at least (did a quick google search and found those types of numbers).

[Ed D]

I've always wondered if a bubbler system, powered by solar panels attached to existing buoys in the mainstem of the Bay, might help with low O2 at depth, during the summer.

Rather than install it in a river/stream where it might be counter-productive, in the mainstem, you are talking about a lot more water.

I'm not saying that it would in any way solve the problem, but it might help in some of the really bad areas.

Where is my thinking wrong?

[5th Tuition]

Ed; this is all speculation and opinoin. I think a bubbler in the river is questionable, a bubler in the bay would be like pissin in the bay and thinking it would raise the tide.

I still wonder why we can't build a filtration plant and space them up and down the bay (similar to the interactive bouy system). Use wind or solar and pump dirty in/release clean out.
My system would probably be marginal as well. It's hard to fathom how much volume of water is in the bay.

5th (Marty)

[garlien]

I like the idea though Marty...

One thing we all forget is that the bay is like a lasagna pan...Not really that deep but wide and shallow....

Not sure what would make a difference in the Bay but if we could get the rivers and the creeks working better, it would still have a huge effect on the Bay as a whole...

A start somewhere, at least where it makes sense, is better than nothing....

We should have used some of that government re-investment act money to help the Bay not repave roads it rich neighborhoods that did not need it...