Nutrients

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- Scientists have been sampling the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries to gauge the effects of Hurricane Floyd."There aren't massive signals screaming out: 'This was a catastrophic event,' " said Linda Schaffner, an associate professor in the department of biological sciences at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science. Schaffner and her colleagues are looking at levels of salt, mud and nutrients in the wake of the Sept. 16 storm.Not enough or too muchNot enough of one or too much of the others can cause problems for bay and river creatures and for the watermen who depend on them for a living.

A hundred years ago, when Calvin Wade's grandfather started planting rye grass to hold down his soil over the fall and winter, he didn't know he was helping the Chesapeake Bay.Now, farmers know that planting cover crops is one way to keep fertilizer nutrients from running off into streams. Many of them volunteer to follow detailed plans to keep nutrients out of the bay.The state is about to publish rules that will insist all farmers do so, and it will inspect them periodically to make sure they comply.

WHILE researching the Internet for the latest on "nutrients," like nitrogen and phosphorus, that are the principal pollutants of the Potomac River, I accidentally pulled up a piece on "nutrition" -- obesity and dieting among Americans.It made me recall the time I did a huge computer search on marine mammals, only to net everything I never wanted to know about the Miami Dolphins football team.But with my nutrient-nutrition glitch, something clicked.People in this country are worldbeaters, it turns out, in gaining weight and in losing it. We are both obese and dieters at unprecedented levels.

POLITICS-A-GO-GO: Tune your radio to WOLB-AM (1010, if you've never been) this morning, baby. It's a Baltimore mayoral marathon -- a three-hour, live broadcast from New Shiloh Baptist Church Family Life Center, featuring 10 of the 17 Democratic candidates for the Big Chair in City Hall, with former state Sen. Larry Young as host. Young, who's been a radio host since his expulsion from the Maryland Senate last year, will have his hands full, making sure each candidate gets equal time while breaking for commercials every 15 minutes.

SUSSEX COUNTY, Del. -- While Eastern Shore poultry farmers face tough new restrictions on manure pollution of the Chesapeake Bay, their counterparts upstream in Delaware operate under some of this region's weakest environmental scrutiny.Delaware's environmental controls are so lax that a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency official is warning that the state must quickly improve on its current "Boy Scout pledge" approach to reducing poultry pollution or the agency will intervene.The differing approaches by the states are most apparent on the Nanticoke River, which runs through Delaware and Maryland and carries excessive loads of "nutrients" -- nitrogen and phosphorus, prime Chesapeake pollutants.

A hundred years ago, when Calvin Wade's grandfather started planting rye grass to hold down his soil over the fall and winter, he didn't know he was helping the Chesapeake Bay.Now, farmers know that planting cover crops is one way to keep fertilizer nutrients from running off into streams. Many of them volunteer to follow detailed plans to keep nutrients out of the bay.The state is about to publish rules that will insist all farmers do so, and it will inspect them periodically to make sure they comply.

Each Marylander contributes an average of more than 5 1/4 pounds of harmful nutrients to the Chesapeake Bay each year in the course of his or her daily routine, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.Gov. Parris Glendening wants to rein in some of these everyday pollution sources to help prevent outbreaks of Pfiesteria and other toxic microorganisms. While the centerpiece of the governor's plan, unveiled Wednesday, would regulate farm runoff into the bay, his proposal also attempts to control the nutrients that the average Marylander adds to the bay's overload.

Q: Spring came so fast this year that I didn't have time to prune my apple and pear trees. The blooms have already dropped off and the little apples are forming. Is it too late to prune?A: It's OK to prune, but do it as soon as possible. As the leaves enlarge, it becomes a little harder to see the shoots and branches that require pruning. You might want to thin your fruits while you're pruning.Q: I'm a gardening novice and am confused about how to apply the soluble plant food that I bought.

The state Board of Public Works awarded Westminster a $925,000 grant yesterday to upgrade the city's wastewater treatment plant.The funds will be disbursed by the Maryland Department of the Environment to help pay for a new wastewater tank, called a clarifier, and for modifications to the city's existing tanks, said Quentin Banks, spokesman for the agency.The new technology will remove biological nutrients from the 5 million gallons of sewage treated there daily, using microbes to convert nitrogen in the water to an inert gas. Work on the upgrade is scheduled to begin this fall.

Another Eastern Shore poultry-processing plant is in trouble with the state for polluting local waters with harmful nutrients.The Allen Family Foods' plant in Cordova cannot meet its 1997 permit's strict standards for releasing nutrients that cancontaminate drinking water and fuel algae blooms, said Quentin W. Banks, spokesman for the Maryland Department of the Environment.Harmful nutrients are building up in local ground water, Banks said.The Delaware-based company is building a $3.2 million treatment plant and is seeking to avoid fines of $10,000 per day.Tyson Foods also faces fines for improperly dumping nutrient-laden sludge from its Berlin plant on farm fields.

The Chesapeake Bay's fish, crabs and oysters could be breathing easier this summer - the oxygen-starved "dead zone" in the troubled estuary should be one of the smallest ever measured, a University of Michigan scientist predicts. Aquatic ecologist Donald Scavia and his colleagues issued forecasts this week for the nation's two most infamous "dead zones," stretches of the Chesapeake Bay and Gulf of Mexico where fish and shellfish can't get enough oxygen to breathe because of nutrient pollution fouling the water.

The state Department of Agriculture reminds farmers participating in the 2007-2008 Traditional Winter Cover Crop Program that they can graze livestock in cover-crop fields or cut and bale the crop for winter hay once the cover crop is fully established. Many livestock producers are in a feed deficit because of reductions in hay and grain supplies and pasture grasses from the drought. Cover crops are widely recognized as one of the most cost-effective and environmentally promising ways to absorb unused nitrogen and control soil erosion to reduce potential nutrient impacts to the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries during winter.

Twenty years after officials in Maryland and the rest of the Chesapeake Bay region launched a campaign to sharply limit pollution that is choking life out of the giant estuary, those curbs are starting to have an impact. Voluntary goals to reduce chemical nutrients washing into the bay from a variety of sources are now federal mandates to reach those limits and maintain them. As a result, fast-growing Cecil County fears a resulting cap on its sewage treatment capacity will mean the county can't accommodate as much new development as it expects in designated growth areas and can't stop sprawl from heading into the rural countryside.

On the surface, it makes all the sense in the world: Since fruits, vegetables and fish contain loads of healthful nutrients, why not isolate those vitamins, put them in pills, and gobble them up? And wouldn't more be better? Then we could just skip the strawberries, spinach and salmon, and let fistfuls of vitamin tablets provide a fortified shield of protection against cancer, heart disease and other ailments, right? "It's a very plausible hypothesis," said Dr. JoAnn Manson, chief of preventive medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.

Our waterlily has a bright-green mosslike substance growing on the roots. It pulls out of the water in large sheets and grows quickly. What is this? You have filamentous algae in your pond. This algae is stringy, hairlike or threadlike and very common. For small ponds, the recommended control is physical removal. Twirling it around a stick like spaghetti on a fork works well. To prevent algae growth, reduce nutrients dissolved in the water. Fertilize potted pond plants with tablets pushed down into pot soil, limit the number of fish because their excrement is a potent source of nutrients, and grow more water plants to absorb excess nutrients.

Maryland officials are close to agreeing on a sweeping plan for cutting nutrient pollution in the state's 10 tributary basins, a crucial step toward cleaning the Chesapeake Bay. The blueprint - being reviewed in public meetings across the state - will outline Maryland's efforts to cut nutrient and phosphorus runoff to meet targeted reductions agreed on last spring with the other states that feed the bay. "This is the road map - it's what is going to...

The deluge of rain in the mid-Atlantic region this year will set back the Chesapeake Bay's recovery, but it could have been much worse if steps had not been taken to cut nutrients from sewage treatment plants and farms, scientists said yesterday. "We were expecting the worst," said Richard Batiuk, associate director for science at the Environmental Protection Agency's Chesapeake Bay Program. "We've seen some things this year that weren't good, but it wasn't the worst." In a briefing in Annapolis on the effects of this year's near-record flow of water into the bay, state and federal scientists said they are seeing encouraging signs in their restoration efforts.

The federal Food and Drug Administration has approved a formula for premature babies that uses a blend of nutrients created by Columbia-based Martek Biosciences Corp. The formula, Enfamil Premature LIPIL, is made by Mead Johnson Nutritionals using two Martek nutrients that are the building blocks of a baby's eyes and brain. Analysts said yesterday that approval of the formula won't have an immediate effect on Martek's finances but that it could benefit the company later. "The premature market is so small that this won't have a significant impact on finances right now, but with the strength of these ingredients, I would expect to see it in all formulas in the future," said Scott Van Winkle, an analyst with Boston-based Adams, Harkness & Hill.

Looking for the fountain of youth? If you believe those television ads depicting active, healthy seniors downing cans of liquid nutritional supplements, you might be tempted to think it's been bottled and placed on a grocery shelf near you. But before you rush to stock up on "meals in a can," chew on this: Experts say most people can get the nutrient requirements they need from eating a well-balanced diet. "These supplements are touted as energy boosters and essential to good health for anyone over 50," says Patricia Froberg, registered dietitian and consulting nutritionist for the University of Connecticut Health Center in Farmington.

Wanna start a food fight? Just say "Sardines!" The little critters can spawn outsized opinions. My household may well be typical. I like them; my husband doesn't. He really doesn't - in fact, he has extracted a promise that I will eat them only when he's not in the house. That would seem to settle the matter, but recent dietary news tempts me to proselytize again, however hopeless the mission. Sardines are enjoying a new status as health food, packed with important nutrients doctors and dietitians are urging us to eat. Sardines are superb sources of protein, calcium and vitamin B-12.