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In 1984, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the States of Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia, formally agreed to a cooperative approach for restoring the bounty of the Chesapeake Bay. Since then, a series of “Chesapeake Bay Agreements” have been signed. Among other things, these agreements set watershed-wide limits on the amount of nutrients and sediments that may enter the Bay.
In parallel to the cooperative Bay agreements, the federal Clean Water Act calls for limits on pollutants that violate water quality standards. Pollutant loading limits set under the Clean Water Act are known as Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs). These are analogous to the pollutant limits for the Bay. To date, the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) has established about forty TMDLs for nutrients in tidal tributaries of the Bay such as Breton Bay and Swan Creek on the State’s Western Shore, and the Corsica, Sassafras and Manokin Rivers on the Eastern Shore.
Together, the nutrient limits of the Chesapeake Bay Agreement, and the more geographically refined nutrient TMDLs, serve as targets for water quality restoration and provide goals for implementation planning.
The Implementation Planning Process
In 2004, under Governor Ehrlich, Maryland developed a statewide Chesapeake Bay Tributary Strategy, which details specific best management practices needed to reduce excess nutrients and sediments. The Tributary Strategy reductions are based on the specific allocations that resulted from the 2000 Chesapeake Bay Agreement. The Strategy will also help achieve Maryland’s nutrient TMDLs.
Maryland’s nutrient reduction implementation planning process consists of three phases that include state level, large basin level, and TMDL watershed level implementation planning. TMDL watershed level work is the most localized of the three efforts. By 2011, Bay-wide TMDLs for nutrients and sediment are scheduled for completion. These will, in effect, overlay on the more localized TMDLs to assure restoration of local and downstream conditions in the lower river estuaries and the Bay. It also helps ensure that nutrient reduction is coordinated with neighboring jurisdictions – for example, county-to-county, county-to-city, and state-to-state.
On June 2, 2006 the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) ended a public comment period on the statewide Tributary Strategy implementation plan, thus completing the first phase of Maryland’s nutrient implementation planning process. The second phase is to develop Tributary Strategy implementation plans for Maryland’s ten large basins that drain to the Chesapeake Bay (Figure 1). These plans will consolidate specific information regarding the implementation of agricultural runoff controls, stormwater management, septic systems and treatment plant upgrades at a more refined geographic scale. This phase is currently underway, beginning with outreach to local governments. The third phase, concurrent with the other two, will include further geographic refinement that explicitly addresses TMDLs, while building on and maintaining consistency with the Tributary Strategies. Figure 2 presents the three phases of nutrient implementation planning, with each phase building on the others over a projected timeframe.
Local Government Outreach Initiative
The State is encouraging local governments to participate in Tributary Strategy implementation planning as an integral part of the TMDL implementation process. As orientation for key local government officials, State agencies will conduct outreach meetings this fall (September - November). These meetings will provide information on three related topics: development of the Tributary Strategy basin plans, Maryland’s 2006 TMDL Implementation Guidance for Local Governments, and the new Water Resources Element of comprehensive land use plans required by House Bill 1141 which was signed into law by the Governor earlier this year.
The Tributary Strategy and TMDL implementation planning processes consolidate useable information for local governments to develop the Water Resources Element of their comprehensive land use plans. The Water Resources Elements will address broad planning for drinking water supply, wastewater disposal, stormwater management and consideration of impacts on water quality. Maryland’s 2006 TMDL implementation guidance encourages local governments to identify key agency staff to lead the development of policies and procedures to advance local TMDL implementation. This fall’s meetings provide an opportunity for such individuals to initiate a dialogue with State officials.
Future Steps
The State’s strategy integrates government resources to ensure that Tributary Strategies, TMDL implementation, and the Water Resources Element under House Bill 1141 will complement each other. The 10-basin Tributary Strategy implementation plans, to be developed in 2007, will consolidate and organize information to support both TMDL implementation and the new water resource planning requirements. For example, MDE is presently developing maps that locate water quality impairments and existing TMDLs as a tool for local planners. Also, land use information is being compiled to support more refined goals for stormwater management retrofits on land developed before stormwater regulations were adopted in 1985.
In the near future, the State will provide guidance to local governments for the Water Resources Elements of their comprehensive land use plans. Among other requirements of the new law, Water Resources Elements must undergo State review. Charter counties should be in compliance by October 1, 2009.
Click here for more information about TMDLs.
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