Since a 1987 Chesapeake Bay Agreement, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the District of Columbia and the six states in the Chesapeake Bay watershed have implemented various programs to improve the health of the Chesapeake Bay so that it will meet the requirements of the Clean Water Act. The primary issue with the Bay has been excessive algae growth and poor water clarity resulting from excessive amounts of nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorous) and sediment washing into the Bay from its major tributaries due to various activities and land uses, including agricultural and forestry activities; stormwater runoff and septic tank leachate associated with land development; industrial and wastewater discharges; and atmospheric deposition from within and outside the watershed. These pollutants result in low levels of dissolved oxygen and poor water clarity that, in turn, impacts the necessary conditions for healthy aquatic life.

Despite significant progress over the past two decades, the Bay remains significantly impaired, and cleanup plans failed to meet a 2010 deadline for pollutant reductions stipulated in the 2000 Chesapeake Bay Agreement. In addition, the EPA reached settlement earlier this year in a 2009 lawsuit filed by Bay advocacy groups claiming that the EPA failed to take adequate measures to protect and restore the Bay.

The Chesapeake Bay TMDL As part of the settlement and due to the failure of earlier, voluntary restoration programs, EPA was required to establish a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) for the Bay. EPA issued the Final Chesapeake Bay TMDL (Total Maximum Daily Load) on December 29, 2010. In addition, to focus attention and resources on the Bay, on May 12, 2009, President Obama signed Executive Order (EO) 13508 on Chesapeake Bay Protection and Restoration to bring a new level of interagency coordination and cooperation and requires that the Chesapeake EO Action Plan be updated annually.

RRBC participated on the Stakeholder Advisory Group to the Virginia Secretary of Natural Resources, Department of Conservation and Recreation, and Department of Environmental Quality to help develop the Virginia portion of the Chesapeake Bay TMDL during 2010.

On March 15, 2011, RRBC gave a presentation about the Piedmont Regional Pilot Project to the Middle James Roundtable, a collaborative effort that brings together stakeholders to improve water quality through local and regional community-based watershed projects.

Ms. Joan Salvati, Director of DCR’s Division of Chesapeake Bay Local Assistance, and DCR’s team leader in development of the Phase II Watershed Implementation Plans (WIPs), also spoke about Phase II WIPs. She reported that DCR is close to finalizing guidance for local governments about Phase II, which will identify the accounting, documentation, and planning that will take place during 2011. She distinguished between the “allocations” that are a regulatory requirement that the Commonwealth of Virginia is responsible for — and the target reductions of nutrients and sediment that will be asked of localities to help meet the allocations.

As part of the settlement and due to the failure of earlier, voluntary restoration programs, EPA was required to establish a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) for the Bay. EPA issued the Final Chesapeake Bay TMDL (Total Maximum Daily Load) on December 29, 2010. 

The TMDL now includes Phase I, II, and III Watershed Implementation Plans developed in conjunction with each of the seven jurisdictions, including Virginia, which outlines how the necessary reductions will be made and maintained so that all necessary actions are in place by 2025. Virginia’s Phase I WIP identifies major tributary nutrient and sediment allocations will be reduced by source sector and describes the agricultural management practices, land use controls, stormwater management, waste load reductions from waste treatment plants, and other methods to be implemented to achieve the Bay clean up.

RRBC participated on the Stakeholder Advisory Group to the Virginia Secretary of Natural Resources, Department of Conservation and Recreation, and Department of Environmental Quality to help develop the Virginia portion of the Chesapeake Bay TMDL during 2010.

In 2010, the RRBC and TJPDC supported localities in submitting information for the Phase II TMDLs. Now the TJPDC and RRBC support the execution of Phase III TMDL through the Watershed Implementation Plan. 

Because of the complexity of the Chesapeake Bay, the size of its watershed, and the lack of the extraordinary resources to monitor every contributing stream, the Chesapeake Bay TMDL is based on outputs from a sophisticated set of models to predict and allocate nutrient and sediment reductions necessary to achieve a healthy Bay. These models are calibrated to real-world water quality data and have been reviewed and improved by technical experts from many fields.

Chesapeake Bay Conservancy, Land Cover/Land Use and Change Maps

Chesapeake Assessment Scenario Tool 

• Chesapeake Bay TMDL fact sheets and key documents can be found here.
• The Chesapeake Bay TMDL is a series of documents that can be downloaded from the EPA Bay TMDL website.
• For updates about Virginia’s progress on the Bay TMDL Chesapeake Bay
  • DCR Soil and Water Conservation
  • DEQ Chesapeake Bay TMDL Information