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Chemical Contaminant Loads to the Bay

Assessment
By Chart
  • Synthetic organic pesticides and their degradation products have been widely detected at low levels in the watershed, including emerging contaminants such as pharmaceuticals and hormones.
  • Fish (principally male bass) in the Potomac watershed have testicular oocytes - female eggs growing in their testes - a form of intersex. Reproductive abnormalities in fish have been strongly linked with a variety of contaminants that affect the endocrine systems of fish.
  • Scientists are currently developing methods to quantify chemical contaminant loads to the Bay.
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Additional Information
  • Annual Chesapeake Bay water quality conditions are largely determined by a combination of the amount of pollution deposited on the land or discharged in wastewater and the amount of water flowing into the Bay. As the volume of water flowing into the Bay – or river flow – increases, its potential to carry increased pollutants increases as well.
  • The Chesapeake Bay Program (CBP) has set as its ultimate goal a Chesapeake Bay free of toxic impacts. This goal will be achieved by reducing or eliminating the input of chemical contaminants to levels that result in no toxic or bioaccumulative impact on the living resources that inhabit the Bay or on human health.
Contact

For more information contact: Greg Allen at 800-968-7229 ext. 746

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