The $19 billion bid to clean the Chesapeake Bay rests on a miscalculation, according to a report by scientists at the Environmental Protection Agency. The reservoir behind the Cononwingo Dam, which sits on the Susquehanna River in Maryland, has filled with sediment far sooner than the agency had predicted.
Using technology that didn't exist when the original calculation was made, the scientists said they've determined that the original estimate of when the reservoir would fill was off by more than 15 years. Rather than reaching capacity in 2030 to 2035, it is already 95 percent full and could cease protecting the bay from sediment within the next three years.
As Johns Hopkins University professor William P. Ball said, "It's like the dam is not even there."
| |  | | Democracy Dies in Darkness | | | | | | Health Alert | Tue., Jul. 04, 2017 11:03 a.m. | | | | | | The Conowingo Dam is filling up fast and could derail the Chesapeake Bay cleanup | The $19 billion bid to clean the Chesapeake Bay rests on a miscalculation, according to a report by scientists at the Environmental Protection Agency. The reservoir behind the Cononwingo Dam, which sits on the Susquehanna River in Maryland, has filled with sediment far sooner than the agency had predicted. Using technology that didn't exist when the original calculation was made, the scientists said they've determined that the original estimate of when the reservoir would fill was off by more than 15 years. Rather than reaching capacity in 2030 to 2035, it is already 95 percent full and could cease protecting the bay from sediment within the next three years. As Johns Hopkins University professor William P. Ball said, "It's like the dam is not even there." | | Read more » | | | |
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