Chesapeake Bay

Water Quality and TMDL development

• Localities in Hampton Roads and HRPDC staff are working together to clean up the Chesapeake Bay through a variety of efforts:
• Participation in Virginia’s Phase I, II, & III Watershed Implementation Plan (WIP) Stakeholder Advisory Group (SAG), convened by the Secretary of Natural Resources
• Participation in the Commonwealth’s Phase III WIP effort to address loads in unregulated developed, septic, and forest sectors; Conducted stakeholder meetings and produced a final report
• Local government representative to the Chesapeake Bay Program's Urban Stormwater Working Group, co-chair of the Land Use Work Group, member of the BMP ad-hoc Verification Team, and participant in other Bay Program partnership work groups. Links to all meetings can be found on the Chesapeake Bay Program’s calendar page.
• Coordination of the Regional Water Quality Monitoring Program between Phase I MS4 localities, USGS, and HRSD
• The Chesapeake Bay Program (CBP) and its partners are looking ahead to incorporate the effects of climate change into their modeling. All modeling products and data used by the CBP can be found on the Chesapeake Assessment Scenario Tool (CAST).

Chesapeake Bay Restoration

• On December 29, 2010, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) established the Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL), a “pollution diet” to initiate actions to restore water quality in the Chesapeake Bay and the region’s streams, creeks and rivers

• Chesapeake Bay’s water quality is important for the regional economy, natural character, ecology, and support of military activities, foreign trade operations, port facilities, tourism, and recreational activities
• The Chesapeake Bay is about 200 miles long, home to more than 3,600 species of plants, fish and other animals including common Hampton Roads favorites like the blue crab, striped bass, and oysters

Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act (CBPA)

• The Commonwealth established CBPA Designation and Management Regulations in 1988 for localities in Tidewater Virginia
• CBPA programs and policies were adopted to protect and improve water quality in the Chesapeake Bay by reducing nonpoint source pollution through effective land use management.
• The intent of the Bay Act is to balance reasonable development interests and water quality improvement.
• Changes to the CBPA regulations are underway to incorporate climate change and sea level rise resilience and mature trees, HRPDC localities and staff are actively involved with these regulatory amendments and will keep stakeholders informed.
• HRGEO houses the resource protection area (RPA) for all Hampton Roads localities subject to CBPA, and askHRgreen.org has new homeowner outreach information and a mapping application to help locate the RPA and provide contact information for the local staff.

Links to locality CBPA programs and resources