Land Resources | Biotic Resources | Water Quantity/The Water Balance | Water Quality/Pollution |
County-wide Natural Systems | Emerging Issues
Emerging Issues
Technological advances, climate change, ongoing urbanization, and raised public expectations
Municipal environmental planning is oriented toward “green fields” development, but the focus on re-development has significant environmental impacts that are often unmanaged. From a natural resources perspective, all of Chester County needs to be managed as if it is an urbanized area. There are no untamed areas in Chester County. Previous county planning focused on environmentally sensitive development, but changes in the last decade have necessitated a new focus on redevelopment and restoring natural resources on existing property.
Funding and planning for forestry and tree planting is insufficient to accommodate anticipated changes relating to climate change and carbon sequestration. There is no comprehensive plan for managing climate change and carbon generation in the county. Identifying and implementing strategies is needed.
Innovative “green technologies” and “green planning techniques” need to be explored and implemented into municipal planning programs. Many new concepts in environmental planning have not yet been publicized to the general public. “Natural”, “native”, and “green” technologies have become a buzz words, but they get interpreted differently.
There are a number of expected new impacts to the environment for which there are few ways to currently measure or to realistically model their impacts. It is difficult to project the impacts of many developing technologies.
- New water contaminants
In recent years, water quality has been impaired by new pharmaceuticals (including drugs and hormone treatments for humans, pets and livestock) and also by personal care products (such as shampoos and deodorants that can build up in septic tanks). There are currently no standards for measuring or reducing these contaminants. - Wildlife-human conflict
The increasing range of bears and bobcats north and west of Chester County is likely to increase the occurrence of young and potentially aggressive males being pushed into Chester County in search of territory, which could lead to more conflicts with humans.
Land Resources | Biotic Resources | Water Quantity/The Water Balance | Water Quality/Pollution |
County-wide Natural Systems | Emerging Issues
Printable version of ALL issues (PDF, 56 KB)