Environment
Pollution
The overall health of
the Bay has begun to improve thanks to years of work and millions
of dollars invested in pollution reduction. The return on these
investments in pollution controls and improved technology is
increasingly threatened, however, by two major problems that
result from common, low-density development patterns.
- Increasing paved surfaces, such as roads, rooftops, and
parking lots.
- Increasing reliance upon cars for transportation and septic
systems for sewage.
As the amount of hard surface, called imperviousness, increases,
the opportunity for natural filtering declines while greater
reliance upon automobiles and septic systems increases the
amount of pollutants in the air and water. The result is a
double whammy of increasing pollution while decreasing the
capacity to filter pollutants before runoff reaches streams
and the Bay. As our population continues to grow in the near
future, continuing sprawl development threatens to overwhelm
progress that has begun to be made in pollution reduction.
Urbanized areas with moderate density and clustered development
can accommodate more people over a smaller land area, thus
allowing preservation of existing natural resource lands and
minimizing imperviousness. Along with more intelligent design,
sewage and runoff treatment become more efficient when pipeline
distances are reasonable and service needs can be addressed
equitably throughout the community.
Effect of Land Use Types
on Water Quality | Imperviousness
Sources of Air Pollution in the Watershed
| Water Pollution
Emission Calculator | Pollution
Resources
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