In addition to the Overview information provided for Water Quality, the Agriculture and Wastewater Workgroups have described their priorities and progress in the tabs below. Other important work is being conducted by the Chesapeake Bay Program partnership to restore water quality by implementing pollution reduction practices on urban and suburban lands and reducing pollution deposited in the watershed from the air. Additional information on these efforts will be included over time. Progress in implementing the Bay Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) and in achieving milestones set at the 2009 Executive Council Meeting is also described below.
The Agriculture Workgroup (AGWG) has described their priorities and progress in the tabs below. Other important work is being conducted by the Chesapeake Bay Program partnership to restore water quality by implementing pollution reduction practices on urban and suburban lands and reducing pollution deposited in the watershed from the air. Additional information on these efforts will be included over time.
The Wastewater Workgroup has described their priorities and progress in the tabs below. Other important work is being conducted by the Chesapeake Bay Program partnership to restore water quality by implementing pollution reduction practices on urban and suburban lands and reducing pollution deposited in the watershed from the air. Additional information on these efforts will be included over time.
The Bay Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) or “pollution diet” sets pollution limits necessary to meet applicable water quality standards in the Bay and its tidal rivers. The primary elements of the TMDL are “wasteload allocations” for “point sources” like sewage treatment plants, urban stormwater systems and large animal feeding operations, and “load allocations” for “non point sources” such as runoff from agricultural lands and non-regulated stormwater from urban and suburban lands. These pollution limits are further divided by jurisdiction and major river basin based on state-of-the-art modeling tools, extensive monitoring data, peer-reviewed science, and close interaction with jurisdiction partners.
The Bay Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) or "pollution diet" sets pollution limits necessary to meet applicable water quality standards in the Bay and its tidal rivers. The Chesapeake Bay Program (CBP) uses loading estimates to quantify expected amounts of nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) or sediment loads to water from specific land uses or point sources and makes adjustments based on an estimate of the effectiveness of a best management practice. Since the definitions and values used for both loading and effectiveness estimates have important implications for the CBP and the various partners, it is critical that they be developed in a process that is consistent, transparent, and scientifically defensible.
During the 2009 Chesapeake Executive Council (EC) meeting, the Bay watershed jurisdictions set short-term goals or milestones to reduce pollution to the Bay and dramatically accelerate the pace of restoration. Jurisdictions based the 2009-2011 milestones on increasing their historic implementation rates in order to improve water quality in the Chesapeake Bay. In December 2010, EPA finalized the Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) which provided jurisdictions with load allocation numbers for nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment. These allocations created a “pollution diet” which set limits for the amount of nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment that could enter the Bay from each jurisdiction and ensure the Bay is meeting water quality standards.
The 2009-2011 milestones were developed prior to the limits set by the Bay TMDL. As a result, the information presented here is not directly comparable with the annual reporting by the Bay jurisdictions on progress toward achieving the TMDL allocations. Beginning with the 2012-2013 milestone period, reporting of 2-year milestone progress will be tracked against the Bay TMDL allocations and the level of commitments made in the Phase I and II Watershed Implementation Plans.
In 2008, the Chesapeake Executive Council charged the seven jurisdictions to develop a two-year milestone process for reducing their respective nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment contributions to the Chesapeake Bay and to track the pace of those reductions. Two-year milestones provide short-term objectives and have become part of the overall Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) accountability framework established in 2010 to assess progress on restoration goals. When fully implemented, the seven Watershed Implementation Plans (WIPs) will ensure that practices are in place by 2017 to reduce the load by 60 percent. By 2025, all practices necessary to meet the target loading levels will be in place. The two-year milestones allow jurisdictions the opportunity to adapt implementation strategies outlined in their WIPs as necessary to meet those goals and ultimately achieve applicable water quality standards and restore the Bay.
