St. Mary's Backs Effort to Restore Water Quality

Army Corps Unveils Plan For Potomac Estuaries

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has unveiled details of a 25-year, $43 million plan to restore water quality, as well as oyster and aquatic plant populations, in the estuaries leading to the lower Potomac River in St. Mary's County.

At a meeting Tuesday of the St. Mary's County Board of Commissioners, Steven A. Kopecky, a project manager from the corps' Baltimore district, presented findings from a seven-year study of conditions in the county's four major estuaries that feed into the Potomac. Although the St. Mary's River, the largest estuary in the county, was the primary focus of the research, engineers also looked at restoring the health of Breton Bay, St. Clement's Bay and the Wicomico River.

Kopecky told the commissioners that although the waterways are in better condition than many in Maryland, restoration work should begin as soon as possible to prevent further deterioration.

"I am used to working in really messed-up places like Baltimore City," where the Patapsco River has undergone an extensive restoration effort, Kopecky said. "There's a lot of opportunity here."

Kopecky's presentation listed four major problems in the four waterways: marginal water quality; elimination of oyster habitats; loss of habitats for submerged aquatic vegetation; and degradation of the streams leading to the estuaries. Each issue has a variety of causes, including development and disease.

By repairing the health of the streams, limiting development, creating oyster bars and planting seeds, all four problems can be repaired, Kopecky said. Oysters, long a staple of the Chesapeake Bay, would be an especially important part of the restoration effort because they act as natural filters and attract other underwater life.

Kopecky's plan calls for 1,380 acres of seeding and the creation of 462 acres of oyster habitat over 25 years, costing $43.3 million. Of that money, 60 percent would come from the federal government, which would require congressional authorization, and 40 percent from the county, the state and the Corps of Engineers.

"We haven't heard much about the state's role in this, but the state is going to have to come to the plate," Commissioner Larry Jarboe (R-Mechanicsville) said.

The commissioners voted, 4 to 1, to commit an additional $100,000 in services and staff hours to continue the study, which Kopecky estimated would require 18 months to two years to complete. The county has already paid about $126,000, plus $474,000 in in-kind services.

Commissioner Daniel H. Raley (D-Great Mills) voted against the measure because he said he is frustrated with the pace of the project.

"The project in question began in the year 2000, and now it's the year 2007 and we've got another two years of studying and planning," Raley said. "I have an issue with that. There comes a time when you actually have to start doing something physically."

Raley said he is also concerned about the amount of time county environmental planner Sue Veith will be required to dedicate to the study because of the county's commitment to provide staff services. Calling Veith "our most experienced and senior staff member, one of our best assets," Raley said he preferred that she continue working directly for constituents rather than participating in the Corps of Engineers study.

Kopecky said that he sympathizes with Raley but that congressional funding requirements limit the speed with which he can move forward. Engineers must seek external peer reviews of the proposal and then create a final report that will be submitted to Congress, he said.

"There's still a burden of documentation and a burden of study that we need to complete, and we're getting there now," he said.

Commissioners President Jack Russell (D-At Large), a former oyster farmer and waterman who made environmental issues a major part of his 2006 election campaign, said that he is worried the water quality will deteriorate further before the restoration effort begins, but that he does not think commissioners have another choice.