It will be Apr. 23rd through 29th.
Owings Mills, Md (KM) “Chesapeake Bay Week” is coming to Maryland Public Television. The non-commercial TV network will broadcast a number of programs during the week of April 23rd through the 29th about the state’s largest body of water. “We’re trying to basically get Marylanders to see what they’re trying to protect,” says Mike English, Executive Producer for Natural History and History at MPT.
This the 13th year MPT has put on “Chesapeake Bay Week.”
There is a lot of news stories about pollution in the Chesapeake Bay, but English says there are also some good things happening on the Bay. “There is a lot of pollution in the Bay, still. We can do better. But, yeah, there have been some improvements,” he says.
A lot of pollution comes from waste water treatment plants, but upgrades have help reduce that, he says.
“There’s a lot nutrient pollution. We’re talking about nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus which comes from farms. It runs off of farms, especially livestock farms. Basically, it’s manure,” English says. “But farmers have done a super job in Maryland and Virginia in stemming the amount of nutrients that escape the farm that get into streams and rivers and eventually the Bay.”
“Chesapeake Bay Week” will consist of several programs about the Bay over a week long period. The topics being covered include “Keeping the Potomac: the Politics of Water” (Mon., Apr. 24th at 9:30 PM) “Search for the USS Scorpion” (Wed. Apr. 26th at 9:00 PM) “Watermen from 1967-2014” (Thurs., Apr. 27th at 9:00 PM and 10:00 PM) “Concert for the Chesapeake Bay: Fan Favorites” (Sat., Apr. 29th at 8:00 PM). There will also be a segment on eating oysters (Mon., Apr 24th at 9:00 PM).
On Tuesday, April 25th at 8:00 PM, MPT will present a “Chesapeake Bay Summit” moderated by former CNN correspondent Frank Sesno. It will look at what has been done to clean up the Bay, and what needs to be done in the future. English says the discussion will probably include a proposal to cut EPA funding for cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay.
There are often many citizens in western Maryland who say the Chesapeake Bay is miles away from where they live, and don’t believe anything they do has an impact on the Bay. English says that’s not so. “The watershed in Maryland extends out to the eastern Continental Divide, which is west of Cumberland,” he says. “So everything east of that point flows into the Chesapeake Bay.”
“So even if you live out there in Frederick County or points west, until you get the eastern Continental Divide, when rain falls, anything that’s on the land it’s going to sweep up with it and move it eventually into small streams and creeks and rivers, and eventually it’s going to get into the Chesapeake Bay,” he says. And that could include some nasty stuff, such as animal manure, industrial pollution and oil and gas from motor vehicles.
For more information on “Chesapeake Bay Week,” including the program schedule, you can visit www.mpt.org/chesapeakebayweek
By Kevin McManus