The Chesapeake Bay Foundation is calling for Pennsylvania to speed up its plan to reduce nitrogen and phosphorus pollution in the Susquehanna River.
If the state accelerates these cuts -- which have to be completed by 2025 -- the foundation argues it will help preserve the smallmouth bass population that has been devastated in lower Susquehanna since 2005. The recommendation came Thursday as part of a report the foundation released renewing its call for the Environmental Protection Agency to declare a 98 mile stretch of the river south of Sunbury impaired.
In the next week, the federal agency is expected to rule on the state Department of Environmental Protection report on the status of Pennsylvania's waterways.
When it filed its report in January, DEP said the lower Susquehanna does not meet the legal definition for impairment, though it is committing more money to studying why the thousands of young bass die in the river every year. The foundation and others -- most notably the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission -- are urging the EPA to overrule the state and declare the river impaired.
"A perfect storm of pollution, parasites warmer water temperatures and endocrine disrupting chemical are endangering this great fish," foundation president William Baker said of the condition of the bass.
The foundation did not give a specific timetable for when it would like to see the federal government's total maximum daily load limits implemented by, but Harry Campbell, the foundation's Pennsylvania Executive Director, said he wants to state to tackle what he called "low-hanging fruit." That would include new regulations on how nitrogen-rich lawn fertilizer could be used and building more green infrastructure that would limit storm water running directly from hot, dirty streets into waterways.
In its report, the foundation said smallmouth bass are dying in most of the Bay's major tributaries.
The nitrogen and phosphorus pollution has fed algae blooms and created major stressors for the bass. Dr. Vickie Blazer -- a biologist for the U.S. Geological Survey who is working with both DEP and Fish and Boat -- has identified a parasite Myxoblus inornatus preying on bass in the river. Though more study is needed, the parasite, similar to a parasite that devastates trout, could be killing the already weakened fish.
Rising water temperates in the river could be causing worms that host the parasites to grow faster, making the parasites ultimately more dangerous to the bass, said Geoff Smith, the Susquehanna River Biologist for the Fish and Boat Commission. Similarly, some of these worms have been shown to grow faster when lots of nitrogen and phosphorus is present, Smith said. That could be another cause here.
High estrogen levels of have been found in both male bass and male white sucker fish on the river, Blazer said. Some of those male bass were found to have female eggs growing in their testes, Blazer said, but not all of them. However, high estrogen levels have also been associated with high levels of parasites.
The foundation and the commission both argue an impairment designation would marshal federal resources to improve the health of the river. The foundation said the designation would expand the tools officials had available to eliminate pollution. When asked if the foundation wanted a daily pollution limit for the river that was more stringent than the current federal plan, Baker said he believed the current limits will be very good once they are fully implemented. However, he did not rule out the eventual need for a tougher limit.
DEP agrees the bass are facing real problems, but contends an impairment designation for the lower Susquehanna at this time would be more about public relations than actual science. Further, the designation would not trigger any new automatic federal spending for the river, said DEP spokesman Kevin Sunday.
"We did an incredible amount of work (studying the river) last year," Sunday said. "We're doing even more work this year. Right now, the data does not indicate a connection between the water quality and what is affecting the bass."
Sunday said the state is on target to meet its daily pollution limits by 2025. Considering the amount of work needed to reach those goals, the state is moving at a very reasonable pace, Sunday said.