Algae by the Bay; Nutrients From Sewage Plants, Farmland Blamed for Rise in Chesapeake Pollution

Spurred by final recommendations of the $28 million Environmental Protection Agency study of the Bay, officials in Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania have pledged action to reverse troubling trends in the nation's largest estuary.

"We have identified the problems" through the EPA study, said state natural resources chief Torrey Brown, "and the exciting thing is that they are soluble. There's nothing wrong that we can't fix."

Brown said by taking advantage of federal programs and augmenting them with their own funds, the states could easily apply $1 billion over the next decade to cleaning the bay, and should.

He said EPA's confirmation of recent declines in water quality has galvanized public opinion to support such spending. Brown said his boss, Gov. Harry Hughes, believes Chesapeake restoration "could be the mark he leaves" from his tenure in the State House.

"It's exciting," said William Eichbaum, who heads Maryland's health department, "because it's doable."

A bay cleanup is "something I would look back on with pride," said Betty Diener, Virginia secretary of commerce and resources.