"We have met the enemy and he is us."  Pogo

It's time we recognize and take responsibility for the fastest growing and most insidious impact to the water quality of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries, development.

The impacts of development on our watershed have been and will continue to be the fastest growing source of pollutants to our surface waters. These proposed regulations begin the process of addressing this issue and recognizing the that there are significant costs from the impacts of run off from development that are reflected in; loss of our fisheries, human health issues (pfiesteria, coliform etc.), impacts on tourism and the overall degradation of the entire Chesapeake Bay ecosystem. Any additional "costs" for implementation of these practices will be more than offset by the potential financial benefits of a healthier environment for all the species that live in this watershed including, human.

One of the basic tenets I was raised with was "if you made the mess, you clean it up". These regulations will recognize that we who live on this land have the responsibility for cleaning up the "mess" that is water pollution, derived from development generated storm water runoff.

Passing these regulations will be one of the essential pieces of the Bay restoration puzzle, which the region has been struggling with for over a decade. We need to adopt these regulations now.