Virginia is set to meet its targets to reduce two key pollutants dumped into the Chesapeake Bay, but will fall
slightly short of the target to reduce sediment, according to a new federal report.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency interim assessment and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation agree that
this is overall good news for the state’s efforts to meet its longterm commitment to help restore the polluted
estuary.
“Virginia has definitely made great progress in reducing bay pollution, especially from wastewater treatment
plants and agriculture,” said Ann Jennings, head of CBF Virginia.
The EPA’s latest assessment of the six bay states and the District of Columbia indicates Virginia is on track to have
practices in place by 2017 to achieve 60 percent of the reductions in overall nitrogen and phosphorus needed to
lead to a restored bay. The bay jurisdictions are under a federal mandate to meet those reductions.
Nitrogen and phosphorus typically enter the bay from throughout the massive 64,000squaremile watershed
through runoff from agricultural areas, wastewater treatment plants and urban and suburban development. When
these nutrients overload the bay, they can create toxic algal blooms and oxygenstarved dead zones.
Most sediment enters the bay from agriculture and urban runoff and can destroy bottom habitat for iconic species
like oysters and blue crab, as well as seagrasses that are a vital to the marine ecosystem.
Virginia has committed to reduce its annual nitrogen runoff by nearly 8 million pounds, phosphorus by more than
1.1 million pounds and sediment by nearly 404 million pounds by the end of 2015.
Bay states and Washington, D.C., are under a federal mandate to have cleanup measures in place by 2025 that will
lead to a restored bay. Those measures are called the Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL), or “pollution diet.”
The states devised their own plans and measures to reduce pollution, while the EPA regularly assesses their
progress. Cleanup measures include upgrading sewage treatment plants and encouraging farmers to adopt best
management practices to protect against erosion and stream pollution.
But the EPA report and Chesapeake Bay Foundation also caution that Virginia’s current plan falls short of meeting
final 2025 cleanup targets for nitrogen and phosphorus for the urban sector, nitrogen for the septic sector, and
sediment in the agriculture and urban sectors. They urge the state to strengthen funding and cleanup measures to
get back on course.
The report also found that Delaware, West Virginia and D.C. are on track to meet all their 2017 reduction goals,
while Maryland lags in reducing nitrogen and New York is slightly off track for sediment and significantly off
track for nitrogen.
Pennsylvania, however, lags behind so seriously in meeting all its cleanup goals that the EPA sent a letter of concern last month to state officials, according to the Bay Journal.
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