Although scattered improvements have occurred, and are actively publicized by State and Federal agencies, especially the Economy Protection Agency (EPA), water quality in Chesapeake Bay has not improved. The only regulation that has resulted in significant water quality improvement so far is the ban on phosphate detergents between 1985 and 1990, which was also mandated elsewhere, as in the Great Lakes. Nutrification is not a problem unique to Chesapeake Bay, or America, and the causes are the same all over the world. Volunteerism has proven ineffective in improving water quality and it is long overdue for regulations to be mandated.

Only two measurements are necessary to characterize water quality in Chesapeake Bay, the area occupied by Submerged Aquatic Vegetation (SAV) and the size and distribution of Dead zones. Other measurements are possible (and more expensive), and are touted by some agencies, in part to accomplish “more study” and delay having to act. But these two “bottom line” measurements are sufficient to characterize water quality. Until both of them improve significantly over a period of many years, no agency can claim that water quality in the Bay is improving.

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