January 7, 2014 — The overall health of the Chesapeake Bay is improving, but runoff from farm and urban areas continues to be a trouble spot in ongoing restoration efforts, according to a new report from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.
In Virginia, especially, the CBF is urging Gov. Terry McAuliffe and other state leaders to hasten efforts to reduce agricultural and urban/suburban pollutants as well as help strengthen and rebuild the oyster fishery.
Overall, the group says, it gives bay health an index score of 32 out of a possible 100, or the equivalent of a D+. It's the same ranking from the last bay report in 2012.
"While we can celebrate water quality improvements, we must also acknowledge that many local rivers, streams and the Chesapeake Bay are polluted," CBF's president William C. Baker said in a statement releasing the report Monday. "They remain a system dangerously out of balance."
To compile the 2014 State of the Bay Report, CBF scientists examined data for 13 indicators in three broad categories: pollution, habitat and fisheries.
Read the full story at the Newport News Daily Press