HRPDC

Added on June 12, 2013

by Jenny Tribo, Senior Water Resources Planner

Chesapeake Bay Program Review of Management Actions

The Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) or "pollution diet" set pollution limits for states and local governments in order to meet water quality standards in the Bay and its tidal rivers. Loads of nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) and sediment can be reduced by implementing Best Management Practices (BMPs). Because the definitions and values for the effectiveness of these BMPs are important to the jurisdictions within the Bay Watershed, they must be developed in a process that is consistent, transparent, and scientifically defensible. The Chesapeake Bay Program Water Quality Goal Implementation Team (WQGIT) has developed a protocol for the development of these values that can be read in detail here.

The following steps are followed in the development of efficiencies for new technologies or management practices:

A state or workgroup submits a request to the WQGIT to evaluate a practice.
The relevant source sector workgroup (agriculture, forestry, urban, wastewater) will determine if sufficient research and data are available for a full review of the practice.
The workgroup will convene a panel of experts to evaluate the practice.
The panel recommendations must be reviewed by the source sector workgroup and the Watershed Technical Workgroup.
The WQGIT approves the effectiveness values for the practice and they are incorporated into the Bay Model and associated tools.

The Chesapeake Bay Program (CBP)

CBP is a partnership between Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, the District of Columbia, the Chesapeake Bay Commission, the Environmental Protection Agency, and citizen advisory groups that has directed the restoration of the Chesapeake Bay since 1983. Bay Program partners include federal and state agencies, local governments, non-profit organizations and academic institutions. Partners participate in the Bay Program’s goal teams, workgroups and committees to collaborate, share information and set goals. The Water Quality Goal Team (WQGIT) is charged with making decisions concerning land use loading rates and management action efficiencies. The source sector workgroups that comprise the WQGIT are agriculture, urban stormwater, forestry, and wastewater.

Since the development of the Chesapeake Bay TMDL, the Bay Program partners have identified and prioritized a variety of management actions that need effectiveness values established or revised. Several of these management actions now have approved rates, many are currently under development, and more are scheduled for review next year. The table below lists the recently approved practices of most interest to the localities within Hampton Roads, but the status of all panels can be followed here: http://stat.chesapeakebay.net/?q=node/130&quicktabs_10=3

The panel reports, while informative, are lengthy and technical, so the HRPDC staff will be summarizing the reports and developing 1-2 page documents that will be published on our website. Stay tuned to the newsletter for monthly releases of these documents.

Management Practice	Workgroup	Hampton Roads representative on Panel
State Stormwater Performance Standards	Urban Stormwater	No
Urban Stormwater Retrofits	Urban Stormwater	Yes
Urban Nutrient Management	Urban Stormwater	No
Urban Stream Restoration	Urban Stormwater	No