Agricultural Pollution
A 2005 report from Maryland’s Department of Natural Resources assessing the Choptank River basin concluded:
AGRICULTURAL LAND IS STILL THE MAJOR CONTRIBUTOR TO NITROGEN, PHOSPHORUS, AND SEDIMENT…1
The Maryland Department of the Environment states on its website that:
IN THE CHOPTANK WATERSHED, AGRICULTURE IS THE PRIMARY LAND USE AND THE LEADING SOURCE OF NITROGEN, PHOSPHORUS, AND SEDIMENT…
Much of the Choptank's pollution comes from fertilizer. Farmers apply nine times as much fertilizer to their lands as they did in 1950, according to Horn Point scientist Dr. Thomas Fisher. In years with unfavorable growing conditions, there is excess fertilizer, unused by crops, which eventually flows into the river. This can happen quickly, as when rain runoff carries the nutrients into streams, or slowly, as when nitrogen leaches into groundwater and then seeps into the river. Excess nitrogen in groundwater from past decades is seeping into the river only now. Our agricultural community must be encouraged and assisted to continue to advance conservation practices such as creating stream buffer zones, utilizing cover crops, and implementing precision farming to match the amount of fertilizer used to what crops will absorb.
Untreated poultry waste is also a significant contributor of nutrients and fecal coliform polluting our waterways. Poultry feeding operations must be required to responsibly dispose of untreated waste so that it does not end up in our rivers.
Learn more about How Farmers Can Act Now
1 Maryland Department of Natural Resources, “Maryland Tributary Strategy Choptank Basin Summary Report for 1985-2003 Data--January 2005.