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The Chesapeake Bay watershed is 64,000 square
miles and has 11,600 miles of tidal shoreline,
including tidal wetlands and islands. The watershed
encompasses parts of six states: Delaware,
Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and
West Virginia, as well as Washington D.C.
Approximately 17 million people live in the
watershed; about 10 million people live along its
shores or near them.
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A watershed is all of the land whose water and
rainfall will eventually drain into a particular river,
lake, bay, or other body of water.
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The Chesapeake Bay Watershed
Otsego
Lake
Chesapeake Bay Watershed
Natural History
Formed about 12,000 years ago as glaciers melted and
flooded the Susquehanna River valley, the Chesapeake
Bay is North America's largest estuary and the world's
third largest. An estuary is a semi-enclosed area where
freshwater from rivers and streams mixes with saltwater
from the ocean to form brackish water. Fifty major
tributaries pour water into the Chesapeake every day. The
Susquehanna River alone drains 42 percent of the Bay
watershed. There are more than 100,000 miles of streams,
creeks, and rivers in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Even
though we all don’t live along the shores of the Bay,
virtually everyone in the watershed lives within a 15
minute walk to a stream or river that flows into it.
Fragile Habitat
This watershed model shows how water moves
downhill through streams, rivers, and the ground
toward the bay.
The Chesapeake Bay is shallow. Nearly 200 miles long and 20 miles wide, the
Bay only averages 21 feet deep. As a result there are large shallow areas where
sunlight can penetrate to the bottom creating ideal places for underwater
grasses to grow. Underwater grasses make excellent spawning and nursery
grounds for many Bay animals. The Bay supports 3,600 species of plant and
animal life, including more than 300 fish species and 2,700 plant types.
Unfortunately, being so shallow also means the Chesapeake Bay holds a
relatively small volume of water, limiting its ability to dilute pollutants.
The main sources of these pollutants include sewage, runoff from urban and
suburban areas, commercial agriculture, and air pollution from automobiles,
factories, and power plants. What we do on the land affects water quality for
all communities living downstream.
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