Governments can aid the Chesapeake Bay and the economy by spending more to help farmers pollute less, a University of Virginia study says. The federal and state governments need to spend $603 million to reduce farm pollution to target levels. The money would be used for such work as fencing cattle out of streams and planting streamside buffers that block polluted runoff. Every dollar spent would generate $1.56 in economic activity, including payments to workers to do the planting and building, the study says.

The full length of the James River is open again to shellfishing.

States that contribute pollution to the Chesapeake Bay must have controls in place by 2017 to reduce that pollution 60 percent, federal officials say. That is one of a list of cleanup requirements the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency sent the six bay states, including Virginia, in a letter yesterday. The letter “is about establishing a new era of federal leadership for the Chesapeake Bay, one that is marked by new accountability,“ said J. Charles Fox, President Barack Obama’s senior adviser to the EPA for bay issues.

Storm water isn’t as dramatic as a fish kill or an oil spill, but it is a major source of water pollution in Virginia. For that reason, the state is toughening its rules to reduce pollution that rain washes into streams from shopping centers, office parks and subdivisions. While the proposed rules should make rivers cleaner, they could add to construction costs—meaning more expense for buyers.