PHILADELPHIA  (July 1, 2010) - EPA today announced draft allocations for nitrogen and phosphorus as part of a rigorous pollution diet for meeting water quality standards in the Chesapeake Bay and its tidal tributaries, and restoring local rivers and streams throughout the 64,000-square-mile watershed.

Restoring the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries will not be easy. While we all recognize that every jurisdiction within the watershed will have to make very difficult choices to reduce pollution, we also recognize that we must collectively accelerate our efforts if we are going to restore this national treasure as part of our legacy for future generations.

–EPA Regional Administrator Shawn M. Garvin

EPA proposed watershed-wide limits of 187.4 million pounds of nitrogen and 12.5 million pounds of phosphorus annually, and divided those allocations among the six watershed states and the District of Columbia, as well as the major river basins (see link below). These loadings were determined using the best peer-reviewed science and through extensive collaboration with the states and the District of Columbia. EPA will assign draft allocations for sediment August 15.

In addition, EPA is committing to reducing air deposition of nitrogen to the tidal waters of the Chesapeake Bay to 15.7 million pounds per year. The reductions will be achieved through implementation of federal air regulations over the coming years.

The jurisdictions are expected to use the allocations as the basis for completing Watershed Implementation Plans, detailing how they will further divide these allocations among pollution sources, and achieve the required reductions. The first drafts of those plans are due to EPA by September 1. The jurisdictions are expected to have all practices in place to meet the established limits by 2025, with 60 percent of the effort completed by 2017.

EPA plans to issue a draft Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) or pollution diet for a 45-day public comment period on September 24. The final Phase 1 Watershed Implementation Plans are due November 29, and EPA will establish the Bay TMDL by December 31.

In 2017, the jurisdictions are expected to submit updated implementation plans to ensure that all the control measures needed to meet Bay water quality standards will be in place by 2025.

In 2009, EPA announced that it expects the six watershed states and D.C. to provide  Watershed Implementation Plans, including detailed strategies for reducing pollutant loads to meet water quality standards in the Chesapeake Bay and its tidal tributaries. EPA also expects detailed schedules for implementing pollution controls and achieving the required pollution reductions. EPA and the jurisdictions will measure progress utilizing two-year milestones. EPA may apply federal backstop measures for inadequate plans or failing to meet the milestones.

For more information about the Chesapeake Bay TMDL, go here>>

admin Chesapeake Bay agriculture, Chesapeake Bay, Clean Water Act, nitrogen reduction, Nonpoint source pollution, phosphorous reduction, stormwater best management practices, stormwater standards, TMDL, US EPA, water quality, watershed protection

From the Chesapeake Bay Foundation…

June 30^th, 2010

(WASHINGTON, D.C.)-Chesapeake Bay Foundation President William C. Baker issued this statement following passage of the Chesapeake Clean Water and Ecosystem Restoration Act by the Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works with strong bipartisan support. It will now move to consideration by the full Senate.

The Chesapeake Clean Water and Ecosystem Restoration Act is the most important legislation for Bay restoration in decades. It will replace the failed cleanup efforts of the past with accountability, milestones, and consequences for failure. The legislation affirms the science-based pollution limits that are being established by the EPA, the watershed states, and the District of Columbia through the judicially-ordered Total Maximum Daily Load, and allows each jurisdiction to decide how best to achieve those limits. It also authorizes generous new funding to help local jurisdictions attack the expensive task of reducing urban and suburban runoff and creates an important new source of revenue for farmers and landowners.

The environmental tragedy unfolding in the Gulf of Mexico underscores the linkages between clean water and a healthy economy. Here in the Chesapeake Bay watershed we have our own variation of the Gulf oil spill tragedy-over 22 million pounds of polluting nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment spewing into local rivers, streams, and the Bay every day.

Senator Cardin has done extraordinary work in drafting strong, substantive legislation that Senators from both parties and from every part of the nation can support.  We commend the efforts of Senator Cardin and his committee colleagues to move this critical bill forward, and encourage the full Senate to act swiftly to pass S. 1816.

admin Chesapeake Bay agriculture, Chesapeake Bay, clean water, nitrogen, phosphorous, sediment, stormwater best management practices, stormwater legislation, stormwater runoff, TMDL, US EPA, water quality, watershed protection

From the PA Environmental Digest…

Two Adams County farms are benefitting from federal stimulus funds made available through the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority, helping the farmers install conservation measures that will aid their farms’ sustainability and profitability, while improving the water quality in the area.

My wife and I started our 250-acre dairy farm in 2000. Today “Circle Creek Holstein” has grown to a herd of 265. Our entire family is involved including our children Emily, Cody, Caleb and Paige. We have invested our time and money in conservation efforts, but this program allows us to do even more to protect water quality. It’s a good idea and a good program, without it we would not be able to afford these improvements.

–Terry Inch, owner of Circle Creek Holstein.

The Inch farm is one of 44 farms statewide receiving support to install conservation practices through a $14.2 million PennVEST grant to Chesapeake Bay Foundation.  Get the complete article here>>

For a look at another Agricultural Operation that’s looking out for the Bay, check out the Miller’s Farm Case Study. They’re Farming with Water Quality in Mind>>

admin Stormwater BMPs agriculture, BMPs, Chesapeake Bay, economic stimulus, Nonpoint source pollution, PennVest, stormwater best management practices, stormwater runoff, water quality, watershed protection

The number of native fish and aquatic insects, especially those that are pollution sensitive, declines in urban and suburban streams at low levels of development - levels often considered protective for stream communities, according to a new study by the U.S. Geological Survey.

When the area of driveways, parking lots, streets and other impervious cover reaches 10 percent of a watershed area, many types of pollution sensitive aquatic insects decline by as much as one third, compared to streams in undeveloped forested watersheds. We learned that there is no ’safezone,’ meaning that even minimal or early stages of development can negatively affect aquatic life in urban streams.

–Tom Cuffney, USGS biologist

As a watershed becomes developed, the amount of pavement, sidewalks and other types of urban land cover increases. During storms, water is rapidly transported over these urban surfaces to streams. The rapid rise and fall of stream flow and changes in temperature can be detrimental to fish and aquatic insects. Stormwater from urban development can also contain fertilizers and insecticides used along roads and on lawns, parks and golf courses.

Stream protection and management is a top priority of state and local officials, and these findings remind us of the unintended consequences that development can have on our aquatic resources. The information has been useful in helping us to predict and manage the future impacts of urban development on streams and reinforces the importance of having green infrastructure to control stormwater runoff and protect aquatic life.

–Tom Schueler, Chesapeake Stormwater Network

USGS studies examine the effects of urbanization on algae, aquatic insects, fish, habitat and chemistry in urban streams in nine metropolitan areas across the country: Boston, Mass.; Raleigh, N.C.; Atlanta, Ga.; Birmingham, Ala.; Milwaukee-Green Bay, Wis.; Denver, Colo.; Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas; Salt Lake City, Utah; and Portland, Ore.

These USGS studies also show that land cover prior to urbanization can affect how aquatic insects and fish respond to urbanization. For example, aquatic communities in urban streams in Denver, Dallas-Fort Worth and Milwaukee did not decline in response to urbanization because the aquatic communities were already degraded by previous agricultural land-use activities. In contrast, aquatic communities declined in response to urbanization in metropolitan areas where forested land was converted to urban land, areas such as Boston and Atlanta.

Comparisons among the nine areas show that not all urban streams respond exactly the same. This is mostly because stream quality and aquatic health reflect a complex combination of land and chemical use, land and storm-water management, population density and watershed development, and natural features, such as soils, hydrology, and climate.

These USGS studies represent an integrated approach to understanding urban streams that includes physical, chemical and biological characteristics associated with urbanization. This is critical for prioritizing strategies for stream protection and restoration and in evaluating the effectiveness of those strategies over time.

For more information, listen to USGS Corecast Episode 127.

The full report and extended video podcasts are available at the National Water Quality Assessment program urban studies website.

admin Research aquatic life, development, green infrastructure, Nonpoint source pollution, pavement, stormwater, stormwater best management practices, stormwater runoff, urban development, urban stream, water quality

The Pennsylvania Environmental Council-published pamphlet “MAINTAINING STORMWATER BASINS on Your Property ” is now available for download through StormwaterPA.

The guide is intended to help residents, businesses, and other individuals perform routine inspection and maintenance activities to ensure stormwater management basins on private property are in good shape and functioning properly.

If there is a stormwater basin on a residential or commercial property you own, either individually or under common ownership, it may be your responsibility, as the property owner, to regularly inspect the basin and perform periodic maintenance. When basins are not maintained, they will fall into disrepair, which can lead to severe flooding and pollution of creeks and streams.

The publication is provided to help the non-engineer understand basic inspection procedures, and includes tips for improving basin performance and appearance.

Most stormwater basins in Pennsylvania are privately owned; as such, individual property owners are responsible for operation and maintenance.

If there is uncertainty about the ownership of a basin on or near your property, contact your municipality to verify ownership and maintenance obligations.

If there is uncertainty about basin design or function, if damage or malfunctions are observed, or in the event a more in-depth inspection or assessment is needed, the owner should secure the professional services of a licensed professional engineer.

Most stormwater basins in Pennsylvania were designed as dry detention basins. This publication focuses on inspection and maintenance only of dry detention basins, or “dry ponds.”

Download the Pamphlet here.

admin Stormwater BMPs basin inspection, BMP Maintenance, dry detention basin, dry pond, flood control, Nonpoint source pollution, stormwater basin, stormwater best management practices, stormwater runoff, volume control, water quality