Dashboard Nat Res Bay Restoration Progress - General Assembly of Maryland Department of Legislative Services

Summary

In 2010, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency established a Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL), as required under the federal Clean Water Act and in response to consent decrees in the District of Columbia and Virginia. This TMDL sets the maximum amount of nutrient and sediment pollution the bay can receive and still attain water quality standards. It also identifies specific pollution reduction requirements that must be in place by 2017 and 2025.

Maryland's Phase III Watershed Implementation Plan (WIP) builds on the Phase I and II WIPs and details how and when the State will achieve its 2025 TMDL pollution reduction goals. Maryland's Phase III WIP incorporates a variety of strategies to comply with the TMDL, including enforcing farmer nutrient management plan compliance, upgrading failing septic systems, and retrofitting existing infrastructure with better stormwater controls. Overall progress towards meeting the 2025 Chesapeake Bay TMDL appears to be off-track for both Maryland and the watershed as a whole.