"We" aren't part of the problem unless "We" are presented with a choice between factory farmed chickens whose owners pump the feces into the Potomac vs other sources. No need to blame the victim here. The factory farms KNOW that they're dumping untreated sewage and they're hiding behind implausible deniability and just plain ol' fashion political corruption to keep doing it.

I'll buy the chickens I can buy. Nothing in the least hypocritical about suggesting that the people literally dumping sh** into the water should be punished.

I have to wonder, though, if dead zones aren't somewhat manageable through tech. How much would it cost to drop some simple hoses along the nasty parts of the Chesapeake and pump air out through them and into the water --- kinda like the world's biggest fish tank bubbler? Air is cheap. Wouldn't this help to stabilize the whole thing? If there was air and therefore algae to eat the nutrients and oysters and stuff wouldn't natural filtration help mitigate the problem?

I've got my hands full cleaning up after illegal immigrants, and trying to get someone in the admin to think twice about a Canadian investment corp gaming the General Mining Act of 1872 for the purpose of destroying some good quail land so that they can export raw copper to Chinese smelters. The local opposition, well meaning Americans one and all, bray "Can't live without copper for your cell phones and all that," but I'm not blaming Joe America if the dratted mine opens up. The way to get the admin's attention to our problem is for local people to shake up our congressmen, the Dept of Ag, the Forest Service, and the Obama admin.

I am sure people in the Chesapeake Bay area are trying to do the same. More power to 'em because they're the ones in the best position to effect a beneficial change.

Over the last 40 years the big picture in Ohio has improved. Most of the improvement has been in the Lake Erie region including the lake and its tributaries.

The problems that still exist are local ones. We have a very large egg farm north of us that pollutes my favorite smallmouth stream. Half the fish I catch are deformed. There is a pig farm next to Ohio's one and only trout stream that lets its waste drain directly into the water. The examples are endless.

I think that to paraphrase Phil B's article from May's issue of Field and Stream. It almost to the point where each individual person has to manage there own local waterways to insure quality water.

Right Chad, credit goes to the Fly Talk guys.

With respect, Tim, don't count me in your "we." I vote. I'm a member of the League of Conservation Voters. I write my congressman. I have about as much chance of affecting factory chicken farming in the eastern states as I do of walking on the moon. It doesn't stop me from voicing my opinion, voting for conservation minded people, and giving to the right causes, but in the end my power is limited. Having done what I've done, I won't accept the blame for what's going on, not even in the "rhetorical we" sense of blame, because I'm not contributing to the problem.

Pollution around my area is just garbage. Someone left a poster at my creek saying "you are lazy, your garbage is killing the bay."
I agreed and stood it back up.

"Oh, and mike we are part of the problem. Unless we change our ways, i.e. Kentucky blue grass, horrible farming techniques, etc... air hoses the size of the alaskan pipeline aren't going to solve the problem in the long run."

Let's get specific here. What "ways" should be changed? To what practice SHOULD they be changed? If legislative action is required, WHO is in the position to implement that change? I can write to my congressmen and senators and the WH and the newspaper and the LCV and USFW and the USDA all I want. But in the end, I can't vote in Maryland, Pennsylvania, or Virginia. To a Virginia rep in the US House, my opinion isn't worth dick, much less to anyone in the Virginia state assembly.

So where do you get the "we" in all that Tim, if your "we" is supposed to include me? What's your action plan here for changing things? Let's hear it.

Sounds like collectivist pc self-criticism baloney to me. Definitely not my fault. Give me the right to vote in PA, MD, and VA even though I live in AZ and I might accept some of the blame. Bottom line is that I didn't vote for the people who allow it, don't work for the people who do it, & give money to causes that try to prevent it. So I reject efforts to share the blame. I refuse to be part of some groupthink guilt trip; the perps know who they are and the voters in the affected states could and should do something about it.

Hey Mike, if you knew me personally you would know that I do not give in to the whole "group guilt" thing either. My point was that as a society, we are to blame. You sound like a fine steward of the land so I'm not necessarily throwing you in the mix. My point was that many people contribute to this problem without ever having a clue that they are, at least in some small way. And I am still curious what KY Bluegrass has to do with it all.