The Chesapeake Bay and its rivers are overweight with nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment from agricultural operations, urban and suburban runoff, wastewater, airborne contaminants and other sources. Therefore, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is leading a major initiative to establish and oversee achievement of a strict "pollution diet" to restore the Bay and its network of local rivers and streams. The pollution diet, or "Total Maximum Daily Load" (TMDL), will be divided among all jurisdictions (six states and District of Columbia.) in the Bay watershed by their major river basins. West Virginia will need to further divide the "loadings" among local sources, improving their ability to target and achieve reductions. Our state's commitments will be supported by a series of two-year milestones to carry out specific actions and to fill gaps between existing programs and resources and those needed to achieve the limits.
Timetable: A preliminary draft TMDL and accompanying draft implementation plans are scheduled to be prepared by June 2010. The TMDL and the plans will be offered for public comment during the summer of 2010. An initial round of public meetings began in 2009, part of a robust plan for gathering public input.
How to use this webpage: We will post updates on this page of interest to us locally in West Virginia's Potomac River Basin, which is our state's portion of the Chesapeake Bay drainage. You may also use this link: http://www.epa.gov/chesapeakebaytmdl/ to view updates,and public comment announcements from the federal programs.
We have some guidance from EPA as to how to proceed with writing our Watershed Implementation Plan. It is detailed in the “EPA Bay TMDL Implementation Letter” which is the first link under the heading “Planning Frameworks” on this webpage: http://www.chesapeakebay.net/wq_git_info.aspx?menuitem=47174 The remaining documents linked there may be of interest as well: the EPA TMDL Loads Letter, the September 11, 2008 letter, and the EPA TMDL Consequences Letter.
