United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Chesapeake Bay Program
Annapolis MD 21403
Research and Development
EPA-600/S3-82-088 Feb. 1983
Project Summary
Governing Chesapeake Waters:
A History of Water Quality
Controls on Chesapeake Bay,
1607 - 1972
John Capper, Garrett Power, and Frank R. Shivers
The Chesapeake Bay has been called
the most studied and best understood
estuary in the United States. Yet it is
practically unexamined in the areas of
the social sciences and the humanities.
The many planning documents, of
which the Corps of Engineers'
Chesapeake Bay Study is the largest,
are general compilations of information
and issues rather than original pieces of
research.
As a result, the present study has had
the benefit of little scholarship to point
the way. For example, there is nowhere
even a simple compilation or listing of
the state agencies that have been
involved with the Bay over time. The
records of what the government has
been doing with the Bay, written as they
are in varying documents and scattered
in various libraries in both Virginia and
Maryland, have not found their way into
the numerous bibliographies that have
been assembled for the Bay. And the
relationship of the governments in both
states to the Bay is imperfectly
documented. In • Virginia, the State
Water Control Board did not produce
annual reports until 1972, the cutoff
date for this study. In Maryland, the
reports of water quality agencies tend
to be perfunctory and repetitive and
give little indication of the real issues
facing the agencies over the years. The
researcher is forced to approach his
material as though he were an
archeologist, finding a few shards here,
a few bone fragments there. Piecing
together a coherent story out of the
fragments requires a certain amount of
logic, a workable hypothesis about the
overall nature of the creature to be
described, and some theories about
how the evidence fits together.
This report has relied primarily on
written sources. Those proving most
fruitful have been the annual reports of
various state agencies, the occasional
reports of study commissions and blue
ribbon panels, and the codes, statutes,
and case law of the two states. Agency
files proved difficult to use because
they are boxed and stored, full of
irrevelant material, unorganized, and
uncataloged.
Use has also been made of the
abundant collections of newspaper files
in libraries. While newspaper articles
may have questionable accuracy, they
identify key issues and place them
definitively in time. Without them,
numerous controversies, left only to the
official archivists, would go
unrecorded. In this study, information
from newspapers gives a sample of
issues and shows the broad trends in
water quality awareness.
Another useful source has been
feature articles in magazines. These are
particularly useful, because they both
reflect and partially shape the public
attitudes toward the Bay. Changes in
these attitudes provide data used
throughout the report.
Last, the personal experience of John
Capper has been drawn on. Mr. Capper
worked as a planner for the Department
of Chesapeake Bay Affairs of the State
of Maryland from 1968 through 1972.
This Project Summary was developed
by EPA's Chesapeake Bay Program.
Annapolis. MD, to announce key find-
-------
ings of the research project that is fully
documented in a separate report of the
same title (see Project Report ordering
information at back).
Introduction
Although tens of millions of dollars
have been spent during the twentieth
century for studies of the environmental
quality of the Chesapeake Bay estuarine
system, little attention has been paid to
examination of the political, cultural, and
economic character of Bay governance.
As part of the Congressional mandate
establishing the Chesapeake Bay
Program (CBP), the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) was directed to
review regional agencies responsible for
Chesapeake Bay management, issues of
concern in the region, and factors that
must be considered in future programs
developed for management of
Chesapeake Bay environmental quality.
This report discusses the physical,
chemical, biological, and engineering
aspects of the Bay in the context of
political, cultural, and economic events
which occurred nationally and in the
region between 1607 and 1972. The
objective is to present the debate
concerning Chesapeake Bay quality as
expressed through changes in public
opinion within the region and how public
attitude influenced the political process.
Methodology
The authors drew on their expertise in
the areas of resource planning,
legislation, and Chesapeake Bay history
to construct a temporal characterization
of how the concept of water quality has
been defined and managed in the
Chesapeake Bay basin. In many respects,
the authors describe the history of
Chesapeake Bay uses and h6w priority for
specific uses was established through
the legislative process.
The authors, for the most part, relied on
written sources such as reports from
study commissions, legislation, case law,
and, in some instances, regulatory
agency files to describe important issues
which surfaced in the region during the
400 year recorded history o^f the Bay. The
evolution of Bay management is
presented within the contekt of four eras:
Colonial times to the turn cj>f the century,
1900 to World War II, Wbrld War II to
1960, and 1960 to 1972.
Conclusions
It is concluded that prior to the
twentieth century the Chesapeake Bay
management focus was primarily
concerned with protection of public
health and fisheries marketability. Only
recently has the public initiated efforts to
establish regulatory authorities directed
toward enhancing or protecting
Chesapeake Bay water quality. The
authors maintain, however, that Bay
government agencies often are acting
merely in response to public opinion and
political pressure rather than following a
course based on thoughtful analysis of
environmental and economic conditions.
John Capper, Garrett Power, and Frank R. Shivers are with the University of
Maryland, Baltimore, MD 21201.
David A. Flemer is the EPA Project Officer (see below).
The complete report, entitled "Governing Chesapeake Waters: A History of
Water Quality Controls on Chesapeake Bay, 1607-1972,"(Order No. PB 83-
114 785; Cost: $16.00, subject to change) will be available only from:
National Technical Information Service
5285 Port Royal Road
Springfield. VA 22161
Telephone: 70^-487-4650
The EPA Project Officei can be contacted at:
Chesapeake B,iy Program
2083 West Stieet. Suite 5G
Annapolis, M& 21403
if U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 1983 659-O17/O894
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Center for Environmental Research
Information
Cincinnati OH 45268
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Agency
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