If fully implemented, the Chesapeake Clean Water Blueprint—the federal/state effort enacted in late 2010—will ensure programs to reduce nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment pollution sufficiently to get the Bay and its tributaries off the Clean Water Act "Impaired Waters" list are in place by 2025.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) established the following science-based limits (also called the Total Maximum Daily Load or TMDL) for nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment necessary for the Chesapeake Bay watershed to restore the Bay and its tidal rivers to health.
What It Will Take to Restore the Bay and Its Tidal Rivers to Health
Reduce Bay-wide nitrogen loads to: | Reduce Bay-wide phosphorus loads to: | Reduce Bay-wide sediment loads to: |
---|---|---|
219.53 million lbs/year by 2017 | 16.35 million lbs/year by 2017 | 7.87 billion lbs/year by 2017 |
199.27 million lbs/year by 2025 | 13.31 million lbs/year by 2025 | 18.58 billion lbs/year by 2025 |
~ Source: Chesapeake Bay Program, Watershed Model 5.3.2
Pollution Reduction Progress Toward 2025 Goals
Nitrogen Loads to the Bay (million lbs/year) | Phosphorus Loads to the Bay (million lbs/year) | Sediment Loads to the Bay (billion lbs/year) | |
---|---|---|---|
1985 | 369.78 | 25.62 |
10.80 |
2009 | 282.66 | 19.23 | 8.68 |
2012 | 264.14 | 17.97 | 8.24 |
2016 | 240.24 | 15.37 | 7.92 |
2017 | 233.10 | 14.95 | 7.79 |
2021 | 240.45 | 14.71 | 18.06 |
2025* | 199.27 | 13.31 | 18.58 |
Source: Chesapeake Bay Program | Source: Chesapeake Bay Program | Source: Chesapeake Bay Program |
~ Source: Chesapeake Bay Program, Watershed Model 5.3.2
NEXT: The Bay states' role in the Chesapeake Clean Water Blueprint