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EPA Proposes Limits on Sediment

August 14, 2010
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By Sabri Ben-Achour

The Environmental Protection Agency is proposing limits on sediment for states whose watersheds feed into the Chesapeake Bay.

Runoff from city streets and parking lots erodes soil and stirs up sediment.

It's a problem in the Chesapeake Bay - it clouds the water, keeps grass from growing, and buries oyster reefs.

It really limits a lot of species and it's an issue in tributaries too -- the Anacostia river at Bladensburg used to be a bustling 40-foot-deep port, now it's a mudflat at low tide as sediment has built up.

The EPA wants to put the bay on a pollution diet and that includes sediment limits.

D.C., Virginia, Maryland, and three other states will use these limits to determine how to manage their own pollution.

Those Watershed Implementation Plans will be finalized in November.

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