Nitrogen

A three-year, $100 million effort to cut levels of nutrients coming from Howard County's wastewater treatment plant in Savage got under way Thursday with a ceremonial groundbreaking. More than five years in the planning, the project will use waste from a nearby ice cream plant to help produce enough bacteria to sharply reduce the nitrogen being emitted with wastewater from 3,900 pounds a day now, to 830 pounds per day in 2012, when the work is completed. Reuse of some treated water will also help by diverting it from the Patuxent River.

Few saw it coming, but the General Assembly approved a sleeper environmental bill that will require thousands of homes in Maryland to install more costly nitrogen-removing septic systems to keep the polluting nutrient out of rivers and the Chesapeake Bay. Bay advocates are hailing the septic legislation's passage as a significant boost for the beleaguered Chesapeake, coming as it did near the end of a legislative session dominated by budget woes....

Moving to correct a major water pollution problem in some portions of the Chesapeake Bay, the Maryland Senate agreed Monday to require nitrogen-removing technology on all new or replacement household septic systems near the shoreline. Under the bill, which was narrowly approved, the state would cover the extra cost of replacing a failing septic system with an enhanced one capable of removing nitrogen from household wastewater. But homebuyers would have to bear the added cost of about $5,600 for an enhanced system when building a house along the shore.

Although County Council members and environmentalists encourage homeowners in Anne Arundel's critical areas and bogs to upgrade their septic tanks, the move won't be required after the council rejected a bill that would force homeowners in those areas to install nitrogen-reducing septic systems to improve the health of the Chesapeake Bay. Five of the council's seven members voted Monday against the bill - including one of the bill's co-sponsors, Ronald...

Anne Arundel County Council members are weighing whether to require homeowners to install a new, more expensive nitrogen-reducing septic system when making upgrades or repairs to their septic tanks. On Monday, council members approved, by a 5-2 vote, an amendment to the bill that would require the new septic tanks only in bogs and critical areas, land within 1,000 feet of tidal waters. The bill had extended the requirement outside those areas, but that language was removed because council members were concerned about the amount of state money available to reimburse homeowners, said Democratic Councilman Jamie Benoit of Crownsville.

For those who monitor the health of the Chesapeake Bay, here's the latest discouraging water quality indicator: 340. That's the paltry number of eligible Maryland homeowners who have chosen to upgrade their septic systems with nitrogen-removal technology under a 2-year-old, state-funded program that underwrites 100 percent of the costs up to $10,000 each. The bottom line? The Maryland Department of the Environment can't seem to give away hundreds of thousands of dollars to help correct a serious water quality problem in this state.

BENEDICT - Walter Boynton knows all there is to know about the Patuxent River - how to find its guts and marshes, where it shifts from suburban stream into bay-like vastness, when the tide is slack and when it rises. But you don't need to be a University of Maryland biologist to see that the river is in trouble. As Boynton steers his boat underneath the Route 231 bridge near this Charles County town, a thin white film covers the water - part of a miles-long algae bloom. He lifts a dredge from the water to examine a sample of the bottom.

We all learned the same Thanksgiving story in grade school: The Indians taught the Pilgrims to plant corn, which kept the settlers from starving. The Indians' secret? Plant the seed corn with a fish head. Fish as fertilizer is making a comeback of sorts. Gardeners are realizing that it is valuable because of its unusually high nitrogen content. You just have to get past the smell. That's what stopped me. When I tried to use fish emulsion a couple of summers ago, one whiff of the concentrate made my stomach lurch.

My compost pile smells. It never did before. I've been adding table scraps (no meat or dairy products), plus grass and weeds. Unpleasant odor can be caused by too much nitrogen (green/fresh plant material) or too much water and not enough air. Since all your materials are "green," balance them with "brown" materials, which are high in carbon. Such items include dead dried leaves, sawdust and straw. You can use shredded newspaper, too, but go lightly. If you've been watering the pile, cut back on that.

Every time a baby squash starts to grow, it dies. I water the garden every day with a hose, but my squash still dry up. How can I stop this? Most vegetable plants don't like wet foliage. Choanephora wet rot is a fungus encouraged by rainy years but also by watering overhead and too often. The fuzzy black or brown fungal growth occurs in squash (and pumpkin) blossoms, causing them to abort or, at the connection of the blossom to the young fruit, to wither. Try watering at the base of the plants, only to supplement rainfall.