Essay On Chesapeake Bay Erosion

What is erosion? In the dictionary, the word erode means “to diminish or destroy by degrees; especially to gradually eat into or wear away” (Webster 243). Erosion, or the process of being eroded occurs on Earth’s natural surfaces as such as beaches, rives, and other major bodies of water. Erosion can have both an ecological and economic effect on the Earth and us as its citizens. For example, in the early 2000s when Hurricane Isabel occurred, it “resulted in irregular erosion of the Chesapeake Bay shoreline in Maryland” (Hennessee and Halka). This irregular erosion was defined as being, “… (1) Erosion was uneven in occurrence and amount, (2) the storm surge afforded two opportunities for erosion, once as water inundated low-lying coast lands and again as floodwaters ebbed, (3) erosion control structures commonly remained intact, but failed to prevent bank erosion, (4) the storm disrupted near shore sedimentary structures, and (5) not all changes were erosional” (Hennessee and Halka). …show more content…
All the erosion and physical damage along with all other harmful things surrounding the bay area which may include pollution, debris, as well as rising sea level temperatures can all be detrimental in the future. Since the Chesapeake Bay is so well-known throughout the Washington, D.C. area, it is recorded that, “damage to shoreline structures alone was assessed at $84 million” (Hennessee and Halka). In terms of financing, not only is $84 million simply an extremely significant amount of money, it can prevent tourists from coming to the area due to the fact that it just left rotting away and becoming more unclean and unkempt daily. It is important that we keep the Chesapeake Bay a substantial and “living”