Restoring Bay Water Quality Criteria

<body> On June 28, 2000, the Chesapeake Executive Council signed Chesapeake 2000  a new and far-reaching agreement that will guide Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, the District of Columbia, the Chesapeake Bay Commission, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in their combined efforts to restore and protect the Chesapeake Bay. <p>Chesapeake 2000 outlines 93 commitments detailing protection and restoration goals critical to the health of the Bay watershed. From pledges to increase riparian forest buffers, preserve additional tracts of land, restore oyster populations and protect wetlands, Chesapeake 2000 strives toward improving water quality as it is the most critical element in the overall protection and restoration of the Bay and its tributaries. <p>To accomplish this goal, Chesapeake Bay Program partners are currently developing a new process for setting and achieving nutrients and sediment load reductions necessary to restore Bay water quality. This process requires Bay Program partners to continue to build on previous nitrogen and phosphorus reduction goals, but instead of measuring improvement against broad percentage reduction goals, they must now establish and meet specific water quality standards. <p>This new process will also incorporate elements traditionally found in the regulatory TMDL process, such as criteria, standards and load allocations, but also would be developed and applied through a cooperative process involving six states, the District of Columbia, local governments and involved citizens. For the first time, Delaware, New York and West Virginia are formally partnering with EPA, the Bay states and the District to improve water quality watershedwide. </body>