While I am a lover of the outdoors, I do feel that there needs to be a compromise between conserving and protecting our environment and the monetary cost of doing so. 

    The Chesapeake Bay may be a 'national treasure', but bankrupting municipalities, businesses, farmers, and individual tax payers in central Pennsylvania is NOT the proper way to go about it.  Particularly when such actions have not been satisfactorily shown to appreciably improve the quality of the Bay.

    The Chesapeake Bay Agreement of 2000 (or maybe 2001) is merely the most expensive and most publicized of such projects to date.  Such squandering of money has been going on for years. 

    The goal of many individuals is to ultimately own their own home.  It is economically irresponsible to force homeowners to pay as much as $35,000 to catch and reconstitute the rainwater from their property.  When one works hard and pays good money to purchase property, hire a builder, and create their dream, that extra expense comes as a pretty big surprise.  Especially as that is money that gets paid up front.

    If this trend continues, farmers (particularly dairy farmers) won't be safe either.  At this point in time the conservation district assists farmers to install fencing and stream crossings as well as other improvements.  With budgets getting tight that money will be drying up while the regulations continue to grow stricter.