Baltimore, Md.-Maryland Sen. Ben Cardin, a Democrat and chairman of the Senate’s water and wildlife subcommittee, is behind a movement to help clean up the Chesapeake Bay by reducing fertilizer runoff from lawns. Cardin last week joined Environment Maryland at the unveiling of a grassy patch installed on a pier as a reminder of how runoff can contribute to bay pollution. Cardin advised homeowners “to be part of the solution” this spring when they fertilize their lawns, urging them to be mindful that those and other chemicals can cause lasting damage to the fragile watershed. In its report Urban Fertilizer & the Chesapeake Bay, Environment Maryland reminded everyone that grass covers more acres in the bay watershed than any other crop, and fertilizers that help lawns grow are harming water quality as they spill into the bay. The report declared, “Turfgrass as the state’s biggest unregulated crop with as much as 1.3 million acres statewide becomes a pollution problem when it is covered with too much nitrogen and phosphorus, which washes into nearby waters when it rains and snows and harms the Bay, whether it’s organic or chemical.” The study comes as lawmakers in Annapolis are considering new regulations for lawn fertilizer that would require changes in ingredients and its application.
Transparency Across the Fertilizer Value-Chain