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Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Chesapeake Bay gets grades in new report card

BALTIMORE (AP) - How is the Chesapeake Bay doing? The University of Maryland's Center for Environmental Science will let us know in its latest report card.
The report card is to be released Tuesday outside the center's laboratory in Baltimore's Inner Harbor. Last spring, the bay got 42 out of 100 possible points, down from 46 the year before and the first drop in four years. Winter storms were blamed for the drop.
Since then, the bay has seen record rains last fall that pushed muddy water and tons of trash into the bay followed by a warm, dry winter.
Heavy rains carry sediments that can cloud water and bury bay grasses. Storm runoff also carries pollutants such as nitrogen and phosphorus from sewage, lawns and farms that can cause oxygen-robbing algae blooms

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