Measuring 'Best' Practices To Curb Farm Pollution

But some scientists have been questioning whether some of the methods -- collectively known as best management practices or BMPs -- actually reduce pollution as much as estimated. "They're being put in all over the place, but no one ever checks to see how well they work," said Thomas Fisher, an environmental scientist at the Horn Point Laboratory of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science. Fisher and his colleagues are working to change that. They are ending year three of an ambitious five-year, $1.5 million study aimed at figuring out which of the agricultural practices work best at protecting the Choptank, the largest tributary of the Chesapeake Bay on the Eastern Shore.  The research is needed. Although parts of the bay may be improving in water quality, "the Choptank is still going downhill," said Fisher. "So why is this happening? Are the BMPs not working?"