The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in North America, with a watershed that covers more than 64,000 square miles and a surface area of 4,480 square miles.   For more than 60 years the Chesapeake’s water quality has been in a steady decline.  The burgeoning growth of suburbs after World War II meant natural environments that once absorbed rainwater and filtered out nutrients were converted to impervious surfaces like roads, parking lots, driveways and rooftops. 

Since the mid-1980s the EPA and state governments have undertaken a coordinated, but voluntary, effort to adopt and implement strategies to improve the Bay’s water quality.   Unfortunately this voluntary effort has led to numerous missed milestones and continued delays in addressing the serious issues facing the watershed – mainly sedimentation, high nitrogen,  dwindling aquatic vegetation, algae blooms and dead zones. 

In December 2010, the U.S. EPA essentially removed the “voluntary” tag from its involvement by approving a total maximum daily load (TMDL) regulation.  The TMDL is basically a “diet” that allocates how much nutrient and sediments each state can contribute to the Bay’s water.  This “diet” becomes more stringent over time, until the end result should be a healthy, sustainable Bay environment.

While adoption of the TMDL is a major step in the right direction, enforcement and implementation will be a very complicated process.  Watersheds are oblivious to political boundaries, and the shear size of theChesapeake Baywatershed is daunting in terms of coordination.  The Bay watershed encompasses portions of six states and all of theDistrict of Columbia.  Not only is the geographic size immense (about the size of the state of Washington), the Bay watershed is also very populated, with more than 16.6 million people residing within its boundaries.  If the Bay watershed were in fact a state, only California, Texas and New York would have larger populations! 

The large geographic area, encompassing multiple government jurisdictions,  along with a large population of residents and stakeholders,  will make successful TMDL implementation a challenging proposition.  A recent article in the Wall Street Journal (http://online.wsj.com/article/AP98e5393d71f14868a2796ad6148488ed.html) highlights some of these challenges in more detail. 

In a series of future blogs, THI will examine what is entailed in the Bay TMDL, the complications and issues associated with the Bay’s deterioration, and some mechanisms through which residents may be able to assist in helping restore this magnificent natural resource.  To Learn More email us.